Research Article
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An Identity of One’s Own: Feminist Ideology and Identity Crisis of an Academic Woman in a Postmodern Feminist Fiction

Year 2020, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 605 - 628, 29.12.2020
https://doi.org/10.29110/soylemdergi.780898

Abstract

Why academic women struggle to find an identity of their own in “the genderization of science” (Keller, 1984, 78)? Is it because they still “face stereotyping, gendered barriers, exclusion, mobbing, discounting and discrediting in the patriarchal domain of science”? (Buran, 2020). This paper close-reads the interface between feminist ideology and biology that Margaret Drabble develops in her The Millstone (1965), which tells the transition from traditional ideal women to women in crisis in Post-War Britain. This postmodern feminist fiction reconstructs an alternative woman protagonist, Rosamund Stacey, liberated in all facets of life for whom marriage is not the goal but her academic career, as she prefers to remain a single mother without depending on a husband. The aim of this article is to explore how Drabble portrays an academic woman’s self-journey towards a sense of fragmented identity crises of social, familial, professional, and maternal. This is achieved by exploring Rosamund’s quest to find her feminist ideology and true identity flying from body constraints and socially assigned female roles.

Supporting Institution

Tübitak

Project Number

2219 Doktora Sonrası Araştırma Projesi

Thanks

I express my sincere gratitude to TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) for awarding me a grant under 2219-International Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program to be performed at the University of California Riverside.

References

  • Ahmed, Sara (1998). Differences that Matter: Feminist Theory and Postmodernism. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
  • Beebe, Maurice (1964). Ivory Towers and Sacred Founts: The Artist as Hero in Fiction from Goethe to Joyce. New York University.
  • Bromberg, Pamela S. (1986). “The Development of Narrative Techniques in Margaret Drabble’s Novels.” The Journal of Narrative Technique, Vol. 16, No. 3. (pp. 179-191).
  • Butler, Judith (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London: Routledge.
  • De Beauvoir, Simone (1952). The Second Sex. H.M. Parsley (ed). New York: Alfred A. Knopt, Inc.
  • Ebert, Teresa L. (1991). “The ‘Difference’ of Postmodern Feminism.” College English, Vol. 53, No. 8. (pp. 886–904).
  • Felski, Rita (1989). Beyond Feminist Aesthetics. Harward University Press.
  • Friedan, Betty (2001). The Feminine Mystique. United Kingdom: W. W. Norton.
  • Giroux, Henry A. (1991). Postmodernism, Feminism, and Cultural Politics: Redrawing Educational Boundaries. United States: State University of New York Press.
  • Gubar, Susan, and Gilbert, Sandra M. (2000). The madwoman in the attic: the woman writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination. United Kingdom: Yale University Press.
  • Hardin, Nancy S. (1973a). “An Interview with Margaret Drabble.” Contemporary Literature, Vol. 14, No. 3. (pp. 273-295).
  • Hekman, Susan J. (2013). Gender and Knowledge: Elements of a Postmodern Feminism. Germany: Wiley.
  • Horney, K. (1926) “The flight from womanhood: the masculinity complex in women as viewed by men and by women.” Internat J. Psycho-Anal, Vol. 7. (pp. 324–339).
  • Hutcheon, Linda (1998). A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction. New York: Routledge.
  • Kottiswari, W. S. (2008). Postmodern feminist writers. India: Sarup & Sons.
  • Labovitz, Esther Kleinbord (1986). The Myth of the Heroine: The Female Bildungsroman in the Twentieth Century. New York: Peter Lang.
  • Laing, Ronald David (1978). The Divided Self. London: Penguin.
  • Lee, Alison (1990). Realism and Power: Postmodern British Fiction. New York: Routledge.
  • Showalter, Elaine (1977). A Literary of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Bronte to Lessing. United Kingdom: Princeton University Press.
  • Soule, George (1998). Four British Women Novelists: Anita Brookner, Margaret Drabble, Iris Murdoch, Barbara Pym: an Annotated and Critical Secondary Bibliography. United Kingdom: Scarecrow Press.
  • Suleiman, Susan Rubin (1985). “Writing and Motherhood.” The (M)other Tongue: Essays in Feminist Psychoanalytic Interpretation. Shirley Nelson Garner at al (eds), Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (pp. 352-377).
  • Tapaswi, Suhasini (2004). Feminine Sensibility in the Novels of Margaret Drabble: An Interpretation and Evolution. Indian: Atlantic
  • Taylor, Charles (1992). Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
  • Waugh, Patricia (2012). Feminine Fictions: Revisiting the Postmodern. N.p., Taylor & Francis.

Kendine Ait Bir Kimlik: Postmodern Feminist Bir Kurguda Akademik Kadının Feminist İdeolojisi ve Kimlik Krizi

Year 2020, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 605 - 628, 29.12.2020
https://doi.org/10.29110/soylemdergi.780898

Abstract

Neden akademik kadınlar “bilimin toplumsal cinsiyetlendirilmesinde“ (Keller, 1984, 78) kendilerine ait bir kimlik bulmakta zorlanıyorlar? Bunun nedeni, akademinin ataerkil hegemonyasında kadınların hâlâ "basmakalıplık, cinsiyetlendirilmiş engeller, dışlama, mobbing, küçümseme ve itibarsızlaştırma ile karşı karşıya olmaları“ mı? (Buran, 2020). Bu çalışma, Margaret Drabble’ın savaş sonrası yıllarda geleneksel ideal kadın rolünden kimlik krizi yaşayan kadın rolüne geçişini anlatan The Millstone (1965) romanında işlediği feminist ideoloji ve biyoloji arayüzünü tartışır. Bu postmodern feminist kurgu, bir kocaya bağımlı kalmadan bekâr bir anne olarak kalmayı tercih ettiği için evliliği değil akademik kariyeri amaç edinen hayatın her alanında özgürleşen alternatif yeni modern bir kadın kahramanı (Rosamund Stacey’i) yeniden yapılandırır. Bu makalenin amacı, Drabble’ın akademik kadının sosyal, ailevi profesyonel ve annelik gibi parçalanmış kimlik krizlerine doğru kendi yolculuğunu nasıl tasvir ettiğini keşfetmektir. Bu krizler Rosamund’un toplumsal olarak atanmış kadın rollerinden ve beden kısıtlamalarından kaçarak feminist ideolojisini ve gerçek kimliğini bulma arayışını keşfetmesi ile aşılır.

Project Number

2219 Doktora Sonrası Araştırma Projesi

References

  • Ahmed, Sara (1998). Differences that Matter: Feminist Theory and Postmodernism. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
  • Beebe, Maurice (1964). Ivory Towers and Sacred Founts: The Artist as Hero in Fiction from Goethe to Joyce. New York University.
  • Bromberg, Pamela S. (1986). “The Development of Narrative Techniques in Margaret Drabble’s Novels.” The Journal of Narrative Technique, Vol. 16, No. 3. (pp. 179-191).
  • Butler, Judith (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London: Routledge.
  • De Beauvoir, Simone (1952). The Second Sex. H.M. Parsley (ed). New York: Alfred A. Knopt, Inc.
  • Ebert, Teresa L. (1991). “The ‘Difference’ of Postmodern Feminism.” College English, Vol. 53, No. 8. (pp. 886–904).
  • Felski, Rita (1989). Beyond Feminist Aesthetics. Harward University Press.
  • Friedan, Betty (2001). The Feminine Mystique. United Kingdom: W. W. Norton.
  • Giroux, Henry A. (1991). Postmodernism, Feminism, and Cultural Politics: Redrawing Educational Boundaries. United States: State University of New York Press.
  • Gubar, Susan, and Gilbert, Sandra M. (2000). The madwoman in the attic: the woman writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination. United Kingdom: Yale University Press.
  • Hardin, Nancy S. (1973a). “An Interview with Margaret Drabble.” Contemporary Literature, Vol. 14, No. 3. (pp. 273-295).
  • Hekman, Susan J. (2013). Gender and Knowledge: Elements of a Postmodern Feminism. Germany: Wiley.
  • Horney, K. (1926) “The flight from womanhood: the masculinity complex in women as viewed by men and by women.” Internat J. Psycho-Anal, Vol. 7. (pp. 324–339).
  • Hutcheon, Linda (1998). A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction. New York: Routledge.
  • Kottiswari, W. S. (2008). Postmodern feminist writers. India: Sarup & Sons.
  • Labovitz, Esther Kleinbord (1986). The Myth of the Heroine: The Female Bildungsroman in the Twentieth Century. New York: Peter Lang.
  • Laing, Ronald David (1978). The Divided Self. London: Penguin.
  • Lee, Alison (1990). Realism and Power: Postmodern British Fiction. New York: Routledge.
  • Showalter, Elaine (1977). A Literary of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Bronte to Lessing. United Kingdom: Princeton University Press.
  • Soule, George (1998). Four British Women Novelists: Anita Brookner, Margaret Drabble, Iris Murdoch, Barbara Pym: an Annotated and Critical Secondary Bibliography. United Kingdom: Scarecrow Press.
  • Suleiman, Susan Rubin (1985). “Writing and Motherhood.” The (M)other Tongue: Essays in Feminist Psychoanalytic Interpretation. Shirley Nelson Garner at al (eds), Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (pp. 352-377).
  • Tapaswi, Suhasini (2004). Feminine Sensibility in the Novels of Margaret Drabble: An Interpretation and Evolution. Indian: Atlantic
  • Taylor, Charles (1992). Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
  • Waugh, Patricia (2012). Feminine Fictions: Revisiting the Postmodern. N.p., Taylor & Francis.
There are 24 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Creative Arts and Writing
Journal Section ARAŞTIRMA MAKALELERİ (İNGİLİZCE)
Authors

Sumeyra Buran 0000-0003-3273-8125

Project Number 2219 Doktora Sonrası Araştırma Projesi
Publication Date December 29, 2020
Submission Date August 17, 2020
Acceptance Date October 17, 2020
Published in Issue Year 2020 Volume: 5 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Buran, S. (2020). An Identity of One’s Own: Feminist Ideology and Identity Crisis of an Academic Woman in a Postmodern Feminist Fiction. Söylem Filoloji Dergisi, 5(2), 605-628. https://doi.org/10.29110/soylemdergi.780898