Risking Apollo's kiss: stories of academically-talented women teachers naming themselves

Abstract

Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of the chronotope and of genre provide an interpretive fame for this life history study of four academically-talented women who have chosen teaching as their career. Through close readings of the women’s stories, especially their language rhythms and metaphors, and through associated readings of folktales, film, poetry, and novels, the author identifies the genres by which the women explain both the official narratives and their own understandings of “woman,” “intelligent,” and “teacher.” The author indicates that the women resist official narratives’ power to author them in these positions by modifying the genres of those narratives to allow them spaces within which they may live their own stories. In this manner, the women name themselves and still retain a place within community. The author emphasizes the importance of time and spirit in the women’s creation of their own alternative narratives.