THE SUPERIMPOSITION OF PATRIARCHAL INSTITUTIONS ON FEMALE IDENTITY IN MEDIEVAL VIETNAMESE ITERATURA: A CASE STUDY OF HẢI KHẨU LINH TỪ LỤC, VÂN CÁT THẦN NỮ TRUYỆN AND AN ẤP LIỆT NỮ LỤC BY ĐOÀN THỊ ĐIỂM

Abstract

Truyền kỳ tân phả by female writer Đoàn Thị Điểm is a representative work of the truyền kỳ genre in Vietnamese literature. The work, though studied and evaluated at various levels, still has aspects that remain unexplored. This paper explores how women are represented in her narratives through a conceptual framework in which patriarchal institutions are superimposed upon female identity - both in action and thought - resulting in the erasure of the feminine self. This superimposition is voiced through a dominant male narrative that constructs gender uniformity and subordinates female subjectivity to male authority. Through an analysis of three truyền kỳ tales - Hải khẩu linh từ lục (Record of the Sacred Temple at Sea Mouth), Vân Cát thần nữ truyện (Tale of the Goddess of Vân Cát), and An Ấp liệt nữ lục (Record of the Heroic Woman of An Ấp) - the study provides initial evidence of the patriarchal system’s imprint on both literary creation and ideological thinking in the medieval period.