Hydraen narrative: Conceptualising inclusive and resistant fiction.

Abstract

Hélène Cixous reclaims the monstrous figure of the Medusa in l’écriture feminine. Discourse on feminist writing has widened to be more inclusive, though we do not yet have corresponding conceptualisation for “writing from without” that encapsulates marginalised authors and subversive texts as eloquently as Cixous does that of the feminine. This paper, arising from practice-based research in writing the hypernovel Seven Sisters Unmet, posits "Hydraen narrative" to refer to the depth and breadth of narratives written from outside and resisting the homogenising effects of dominant culture. Hydraen narratives are those that proliferate under suppression and reclaim demonised creative excess through previously termed "feminist" structures, styles, and/or content: polyvocality, lack of closure, repetition, ontological metelepsis, unnatural narrative techniques, embodiment, intra- and intertextuality, questions of family versus self, and explorations of sexuality and gender. Hydraen narrative using digital interfaces galvanises the dialectical, participatory relationship between creator and audience that can lead to social change and restored (and restorative) power.