A Foucauldian Approach to Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other

Uğur Yetgin; Seda Pekşen

A Foucauldian Approach to Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other

Abstract

This article presents a Foucauldian reading of Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other, focusing on how female protagonists resist dominant power structures and societal norms. Through the theoretical framework of Michel Foucault—particularly the concepts of power-knowledge, resistance, freedom, and the care of the self—the study analyzes the ways in which characters such as Anna, Molly, Marion, Amma, and Megan/Morgan confront and subvert patriarchal expectations. The analysis reveals how these characters assert self-agency and pursue personal transformation by challenging hegemonic discourses and redefining their identities. Despite differing cultural and historical contexts, the protagonists share a common struggle for autonomy and liberation within oppressive systems. Their narratives demonstrate the capacity of individuals to resist institutional power, reconstruct subjectivity, and reclaim their voices in male-dominated societies. Ultimately, the article highlights the transformative potential embedded in these literary works, offering critical insights into the dynamic interplay between individual freedom and structural power through a Foucauldian lens.

Keywords

Ethical Statement

This article is an outcome of Uğur Yetgin’s MA dissertation entitled “A Foucauldian Reading of Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other” with the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Seda PEKŞEN

References

Danaher, G., Schirato, T., & Webb, J. (2000). Understanding Foucault. London: SAGE Publications.
Davidson, A. I. (1994). Ethics as ascetics: Foucault, the history of ethics, and ancient thought. In G. Gutting (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to Foucault (pp. 115–140). Cambridge University Press.
Dreyfus, H. L., & Rabinow, P. (1983). Michel Foucault: Beyond structuralism and hermeneutics (2nd ed., pp. 238–243). University of Chicago Press.
Evaristo, B. (2019). Girl, woman, Other [Book club kit]. New York: Black Cat.
Foucault, M. (1972). The archaeology of knowledge (A. Sheridan, Trans.). New York: Pantheon Books.
Foucault, M. (1995). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (2nd ed.). New York: Vintage Books. (Original work published 1977)
Foucault, M. (2011). The courage of truth: The government of self and others II (F. Gros et al., Eds.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Foucault, M. (1987). The ethic of the care for the self as a practice of freedom. In J. W. Bernauer & D. M.

Rasmussen (Eds.), The final Foucault (pp. 1-20). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Foucault, M. (1984). The Foucault reader (P. Rabinow, Ed.). New York, NY: Pantheon Books.
Foucault, M. (2005). *The hermeneutics of the subject: Lectures at the Collège de France 1981-1982*(F. Gros, F. Ewald, A. Fontana, & G. Burchell, Eds.; G. Burchell, Trans.). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality: Vol. 1. An introduction (R. Hurley, Trans.). New York: Pantheon Books.
Foucault, M. (1986). The history of sexuality: Vol. 3. The care of the self (R. Hurley, Trans.). New York: Pantheon Books.
Foucault, M. (1997). On the genealogy of ethics. In P. Rabinow (Ed.), Ethics: Subjectivity and truth (pp. 253-280). New York, NY: New Press.
Foucault, M. (1980). *Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, 1972–1977* (C. Gordon, Ed.). New York: Pantheon Books.
Foucault, M. (1991). Remarks on Marx: Conversations with Duccio Trombadori (R. J. Goldstein & J. Cascaito, Trans.). New York, NY: Semiotext(e).
Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical Inquiry, 8(4), 777-795. Retrieved from JSTOR.
Gros, F. (2005). Le souci de soi chez Michel Foucault. Philosophy and Social Criticism, 31(5–6), 697–708.
Lessing, D. (2008). The golden notebook (1st Harper Perennial Modern Classics ed.). New York: Harper Perennial.
McGushin, E. (2007). Foucault's askesis: An introduction to philosophical life. Northwestern University Press.
Wong, J. (2013). Self and others: The work of 'care' in Foucault's care of the self (Philosophy Faculty Publications No. 6). Scholars Commons @ Laurier. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277943228_Self_and_Other_The_Work_of_Care_in_Foucault's_Care_of_the_Self

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

British and Irish Language, Literature and Culture

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Uğur Yetgin ^*
0009-0000-1530-9877
Türkiye

Seda Pekşen
Türkiye

Early Pub Date

December 16, 2025

Publication Date

December 30, 2025

Submission Date

June 14, 2025

Acceptance Date

October 26, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2025 Volume: 7 Number: 2

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA95SB76CB

Cite

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Yetgin, U., & Pekşen, S. (2025). A Foucauldian Approach to Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature, 7(2), 14-40. https://izlik.org/JA95SB76CB

AMA

1.Yetgin U, Pekşen S. A Foucauldian Approach to Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other. EJELL. 2025;7(2):14-40. https://izlik.org/JA95SB76CB

Chicago

Yetgin, Uğur, and Seda Pekşen. 2025. “A Foucauldian Approach to Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other”. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature 7 (2): 14-40. https://izlik.org/JA95SB76CB.

EndNote

Yetgin U, Pekşen S (December 1, 2025) A Foucauldian Approach to Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature 7 2 14–40.

IEEE

[1]U. Yetgin and S. Pekşen, “A Foucauldian Approach to Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other”, EJELL, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 14–40, Dec. 2025, [Online]. Available: https://izlik.org/JA95SB76CB

ISNAD

Yetgin, Uğur - Pekşen, Seda. “A Foucauldian Approach to Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other”. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature 7/2 (December 1, 2025): 14-40. https://izlik.org/JA95SB76CB.

JAMA

1.Yetgin U, Pekşen S. A Foucauldian Approach to Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other. EJELL. 2025;7:14–40.

MLA

Yetgin, Uğur, and Seda Pekşen. “A Foucauldian Approach to Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other”. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature, vol. 7, no. 2, Dec. 2025, pp. 14-40, https://izlik.org/JA95SB76CB.

Vancouver

1.Uğur Yetgin, Seda Pekşen. A Foucauldian Approach to Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other. EJELL [Internet]. 2025 Dec. 1;7(2):14-40. Available from: https://izlik.org/JA95SB76CB