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Het Medea-thema revisited in Vlaanderen: een vergelijkende analyse van de “allochtoon” in Borgerocco (1995) van Hugo Claus en Mamma Medea (2001) van Tom Lanoye

Bodarwé, Bastien

(2021)

Details

Supervisors

Vanasten, Stéphanie

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [60] en langues et lettres modernes, orientation germaniques

Abstract

enThis research focuses on the adaptations of the Medea myth by Hugo Claus (Borgerocco, 1995) and Tom Lanoye (Mamma Medea, 2001). It examines the way in which both authors embed the Medea character in the Belgian political landscape. A political landscape in which immigrants do not always have it easy when it comes to integration. Furthermore, certain immigrants are labelled as "allochtoon", they are discriminated against, this hampers their lives in what could be a multicultural society. Consequently, the aim of this research is to examine how the Medea character is constructed by both authors and to what extent she integrates into her new society. In order to do so, the following research questions have been formulated: How is the Medea character represented by Claus and Lanoye in relation to the multicultural dimensions present in both works? Which values are present in both fictional works and how is the Flemish society reflected? To answer these questions, the texts will be analysed through the lens of subaltern studies and Gayatri Spivak's work on the position of women in a subaltern group, among others. Both adaptations will be then analysed again under the scope of the Imagology. In the end, it turns out that both authors have adapted Medea in very different ways. Claus wrote a bombastic parody, while Lanoye took a more subtle and sophisticated approach. What recurs in both versions is Medea's subaltern status. In both versions, the Medea characters have no autonomy, everything is decided for them. They are victims of their subordination and are driven to their crimes. Both authors make a critical, pessimistic reflection of the Flemish society. The intention of both adaptations is perhaps to question those societies; can't we do better with the “immigrants” in Europe?