ΓΥΝΑΙΚΕΙΑ ΑΜΦΙΣΒΗΤΗΣΗ ΚΑΙ ΚΟΜΜΟΥΝΙΣΤΙΚΗ ΣΤΡΑΤΕΥΣΗ. ΕΡΓΑΖΟΜΕΝΕΣ ΓΥΝΑΙΚΕΣ ΣΕ ΜΕΣΟΠΟΛΕΜΙΚΑ ΠΕΖΟΓΡΑΦΗΜΑΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΑΡΘΡΑ ΤΗΣ ΓΑΛΑΤΕΙΑΣ ΚΑΖΑΝΤΖΑΚΗ

Abstract

Tonia Kafetzaki, Female Contention and Communist Commitment: Working Women in the Midwar Novels and Essays of Galateia Kazantzaki

The paper examines the representations of working women in the midwar novels of Galateia Kazantzaki (1881-1962), the relation of these representations to the author's political views on female labor —as articulated in two essays written in the same period—, as well as the manner in which her views are integrated into the discussion of these issues during this time period, specifically in the confrontation between the radical feminists, the socialists and the communists. G. K. was a writer with an enduring interest in the social status of women, an intellectual who actively participated in the debates of the Left regarding the role of art, and unswerving in her commitment to the communist movement. Including women in her work, she intended to denounce the decay of the bourgeois system that imposes upon women additional forms of exploitation, to tackle issues regarding the status of her female contemporaries and to examine women's labor in relation to women's emancipation perceived as a change in mentality and morals. Her prose in its entirety, literary and political, is an interesting expression of female contention in the period between the wars, an expression consistent with the basic tenets of the communist party, conversant with the views of the radical feminist scene, and showing a clear proximity to socialist opinions. Revealing a broader and more liberal attitude regarding women's labor and women's issues than the political party she is affiliated to, she chiefly expresses her concern for attaining a new female ethos, a new consciousness.