Postcolonial Feminist Theory: An Overview - Igcollege.org

Proceedings of National Seminar on Postmodern Literary Theory and Literature , Jan. 27-28, 2012, NandedMaya Angelou’s The Phenomenal Woman--Mirza Aasan BaigVasantrao Kale Sr. College,NandedAbstract: Maya Angelou is still one of the prominent feminist voices from the United States. An Afro American bybirth she faced a number of problems which include social, political and personal. But she faced every situation bravely andnever hesitated to hide her personal failures. Her autobiographical book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a milestone so far asBlack Literature is concerned.Key Words:Feminism, Ecriture Feminine, Gyno Texts, Radical Feminism, Black Feminism etc.Maya Angelou is recognized as arepresentative figure of Radical Feminism.She is one of the most renowned andinfluential voices of our time. Hailed as aglobal renaissance woman, Angelou has amulti talented personality. She is known as acelebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator,dramatist, producer, actress, historian,filmmaker, and civil rights activist. An Afro-American by birth, she underwent manytraumatic incidents in her life. Theseincidents taught her the lessons of survival,and she emerged as a woman of substance,protest, questioning nature and a radicalattitude.When Maya Angelou was only fiveher parents got divorced and she, along withone brother was compelled to live with hermaternal grandmother. Very soon when theywere trying to cope-up with the surroundings,her father reappeared and they have torelocate. When she was only eight, she wasraped by her mother’s boy-friend, Mr.Freeman. Mr. Freeman was soon murdered byAngelou’s uncles. But she suspected herselfas the murderer of the man. If she remainedunspoken the man could have been survived.She cursed herself and remained unspoken fora long time.Later in her life Angelou came acrossmany men and married for a number of times.But none of her male friends remained faithfulto her. To earn her bread and butter shelearned African dance as per her choice andvery soon mastered the art of dancing, musicand poetry. She grouped with the artist likeAlvin Ailey and Ruth Beckford but theircollaboration proved a failure and she joinedclub houses as a professional dancer. Herperformance in the Purple Onion, therenowned club house earned her the nicknameof Maya Angelou, her original name had beenMarguerite Johnson. Her Calypso dance madeher popular all over the Europe. In 1957 sherecorded her first album with the title, MissCalypso.From then onwards her life took adecisive turn and she never turned back. Withthe advice of James O. Killens she joinedHarlem Writers Guild in 1959 and began thecareer of a writer. She came in close contactwith black writers such as Paula Marshall,John Herik Clarke, Rosa Guy, and JulianMayfield. She also underwent the charm ofMartin Luther King Jr.’s philosophic speechesand joined Southern Christian LeadershipConference. Later on she contributed toGhanian Times, Radio Ghana and the GhanaNational Theatre. She wrote Georgia Georgia(1972) the first screenplay written by a BlackWomen. She returned to US in 1981 andawarded with Reynolds Professorship inAmerican Studies at Wake Forest Universityin North Carolina.I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings isher first autobiography which comprises herinitial seventeen years. Her later life waspenned in five consecutive autobiographicalworks. The book is among the earliestprojection of personal life of any Afro-American women. Angelou follows HélèneCixous notion of Ecriture Feminine. Ecriture320 PLTL-2012: ISBN 978-81-920120-0-1