RT Book, Section
T1 The Monster’s Gaze Disrupting the Male Gaze: Trauma, Gender and Feminist Mythmaking in Rosie Hewlett’s 'Medusa'
A1 Burguillos Capel, María
K1 Medusa
K1 Rosie Hewlett
K1 Feminist mythmaking
K1 Symbolic violence
K1 Sexual violence
AB This chapter examines Rosie Hewlett’s novel 'Medusa' (2021) as a contemporary feminist reimagining that reclaims the myth of Medusa through a survivor-centred lens. Hewlett’s retelling, aimed at a younger and broader readership, aligns with the discourse of the current feminist wave by foregrounding themes of sexual violence, narrative agency and symbolic resistance. The novel reframes the youngest of the Gorgon sisters, once cast as a Freudian figure of male fear, as an emblem of what Hélène Cixous identified as 'écriture féminine': a voice reclaiming power through self-narration. Hewlett also reconceives Perseus as an embodiment of deconstructed masculinity, shaped by inherited trauma and empathy rather than heroic conquest. By analysing both the narrative’s accessibility and its engagement with structural and symbolic violence, this study finally argues for Hewlett’s contribution to the evolving project of feminist mythmaking and its genealogy of female mythmakers.
PB Roma Tre Press / Enredars - UPO
SN 978-84-09-78187-4
SN 979-12-5977-530-6
YR 2025
FD 2025-11-24
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10433/25105
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10433/25105
LA en
NO Departamento de Filología y Traducción
DS RIO
RD May 12, 2026