The Construction of Female Identity on the Example of Vladimira Jelovšek's Diary

Ovaj rad bavi se analizom konstrukcije ženskog identiteta na primjeru rukopisnog dnevnika Povijest jedne ljubavi (vođen od 1915. do 1919. godine) autorice Vladimire Jelovšek, kćeri feministice Zofke Kveder i liječnika Vladimira Jelovšeka, iz interdisciplinarne perspektive feminističke teorije, odnosno ženske povijesti te ženskih i djevojačkih studija. Stoga se na primjeru odabranih kategorija (dis)funkcionalne obitelji, (ne)konvencionalne (tjelesne) privlačnosti i kategorije društvenih normi i nestabilnog političkog okruženja analiziraju mehanizmi konstrukcije ženskog identiteta na odabranim dnevničkim primjerima te njegova narativna oblikovanost. Teorijski okvir koji prethodi analizi dnevnika utemeljen je na različitoj relevantnoj literaturi te čitatelju omogućava uvid u kompleksnost definicije dnevničkog zapisa i fluidnost rodnih kategorija, pa tako i samog ženskog identiteta, dok se kategorija povijesnosti uvodi kao važan čimbenik koji utječe na cjelokupni odnos izvantekstualnih okolnosti poput Prvog svjetskog rata i narativne konstrukcije dnevničkog subjekta. Zaključeno je da unutar svake kategorije postoje određena odstupanja od normi i stereotipa, ali i kreiranje autentičnih mehanizama prilagodbe, pri čemu se identitet uvijek uspostavlja kao relacijski i fluidan pojam. Na taj je način i cilj ovoga rada, u smislu izbjegavanja esencijalizma i pokazivanjaThis paper analyses the construction of female identity on the example of Vladimira Jelovšek's handwritten diary: A Love's History (written from 1915 to 1919). Vladimira Jelovšek was the daughter of feminist Zofka Kveder and doctor Vladimir Jelovšek and her diary is studied from the interdisciplinary point of view based on feminist theory, i.e. women’s history and women’s and girlhood studies, respectively. The construction of female identity, demonstrated with and based on examples from Jelovšek's diary, as well as the diary's narrative construction are analysed in the context of previously defined categories such as (dis)functional family, (un)conventional (physical) attractiveness and the category of social norms, as well as the category of an unstable political environment. The theoretical frame preceding the analysis of this diary is based on the various relevant sources and provides an insight into the complexity of the definition of diary entry and the fluidity of gender categories, as well as female identity, while the category of historicity is introduced as an important factor which defines the overall mutual relationship between non-fictional circumstances (such as the First World War) and the narrative construction of a diary’s subject. Therefore, it can be said that even though there are certain deviations from norms and stereotypes within every above-mentioned category, authentic mechanisms are created as well, in adjustment to these deviations, whereby identity is always seen as a relational and fluid term. This paper has, thus, achieved its objective: to avoid essentialism and demonstrate the complexity of female identity construction under different circumstance