Women's portrait as it was presented by the 20th century's women novelists.

Women's portrait as it was presented by the 20^th century's women novelists. By: Sally Atef.

"For most of history, Anonymous was a woman." Virginia Woolf.  

 figure1: the grass is singing

How was the image of women portrayed in novels before the 20^th century? How was the 20^th century novel? How was it changed? Who were the most well known women novelists? Why did they appear? How was the women's image that they presented different than did other men writers? What was the ideological trend that women novelists adopted?

Women in novels before the 20^th century:

        In their book A History of Feminist Literary Criticism (2007), Gill and Susan Sellers stated: "Clearly in the late medieval period there was some awareness of texts’ potential to harm women, harm that should be avoided." It is noticeable that novel is not the only literary branch that humbled the women's image but one can see that in the other branches as they were male dominated we can see that in the lack of the feminist literary production(Plain, Sellers2007).

        Moving to the Renaissance (1550-1700), we find that the feminist literary production was increasing as women writers published their works in a variety of literary branches such as: fiction, poems, plays, translation, letters, and etc.Despite the fact that there were two queens ruled the kingdom, Queen Mary I (1516-1558) and Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), Elizabethan female subjects published defences of their own sex even though they often did so under the protection of a pseudonym. ‘Jane Anger’, for example, proclaimed the grace, wisdom and wit of women in 1589(Plain, Sellers2007: 27).   

figure2: Queen Elizabeth I

        Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) presented his most famous two novels "Pamela" (1740) and "Clarissa" (1747) whose themes centered on two girls. The story of Pamela is virtuous and simple .It is about Pamela Andrews, a comely servant girl, whose mistress died. Pamela's new master is solicited by her. After resisting him, he treats her very tough and sends her to Lincolnshire guarded by Mrs. Jewkes. She suffers and tries to kill herself. Finally her master offers honorable marriage and she accepts.

         The other novel is Clarissa.Clarissa is of more dignity and culture than Pamela belongs to a wealthy family. She has two suitors-Robert Lovelace and Roger Solmes. The family is against her liaison to the immoral Lovelace. Clarissa escapes with Lovelace who deceives her conducting her to a private brothel where he drugs and violates her then she dies. 

  figure:3 Samuel Richardson

          During the Victorian era, a great aware of the social and economical injustice and women were given the right of keeping earnings of their own after the Act 1870 and 1882.At the end of 1840 they could join London University. The Victorian novel was affected by these changes as there were female writers and women established a part of literary culture. Of the main female writers appeared in that age we can memtion: the three Bronte sisters, Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865), Jane Austen (1775-1851) and Mary Shelly (1797-1851). 
   Many women novelists appeared in the Victorian age. Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) was born in Yorkshire but she stayed in Brussels. In "Villette"(1853) she reflects her personal experiences when she was in Brussels.In her well known novel "Jane Eyre" (1847), she presents the life of a poor and unbeautiful girl who was brought up by a cruel aunt. She was sent to a miserable school then she moves to Thornfield Hall to teach Mr. Rochester's daughter. Mr. Rochester falls in love with her but she discovers that his mad wife is still alive and runs away. After that the Hall is burnt and the mad wife is killed and Rochester losses his eyesight but when Jane knows about that she returns and marries him.   

 Figure6: Charlotte Bronte

         Charlotte's sister Emily wrote one of the most outstanding novels," Wuthering Heights" (1847).George Eliot(1819-1880) was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. Her first novel was "Adam Bede" (1859) in which she hints for her childhood. She also wrote historical novel about Florence,"Romola"(1863).

The 20th century novel and how it is different:

         The 20th century novel is divided by literary historians into two phases that are: modern novels: from 1900 to1945 and contemporary novels: from 1945 till present. There were some changes (which we will talk about it later) in beliefs and political ideas which affected novelists in this age strongly and led to the declination of the British Empire. (Robert, Gwyneth&G.C Thornely, 1954)

         The changes can be seen by comparing two writers who are close to each other in time but they have very different ideas. The traditional form of the novel was still used in many of the 20th century novelists such as: E.M.Forster (1879-1970) and Arnold Bennett (1867-1931).

           The century witnessed a new style of writing which is known as "interior monologue "or" stream of consciousness". This style allows the reader to move inside the minds of the characters breaking any traditional rules in writing. This style was created by the Irish writer James Joyce (1882-1941) when he presented his novel "Ulysses" (1922). Another author who adopted the same style was Virginia Woolf (1882-1941).One of her most outstanding quotes is: "My own brain is to me the most unaccountable of machinery - always buzzing, humming, soaring roaring diving, and then buried in mud. And why? What's this passion for?" and that appeared in her novel "Mrs. Dalloway "(1925) in which she attempted to explore Mrs. Dalloway's thoughts during one day in June.  

  figure4: James Joyce

         

         Another style is "science fiction novels" which can be defined as stories based on developments in science or technology either existing developments or fictional developments of the future (Robert, Gwyneth&G.C Thornely, 1954 : 162).Many novelists wrote science fiction novels such as Arthur C.Clarke (1917-2008) who wrote "The City and the Stars "(1957) and  "2001:A Space Odyssey" (1968). Other novelists appeared to work mainly on science fiction as John Wyndham (1903-1969) who wrote "The Day of the Triffids" (1951) and The" Karken Wakes" (1953).  

  figure5: 2001:A Space Odyssey

Main 20th century women novelists:

1.    Virginia woolf (1882-1941):

"Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size." Virginia woolf.

Virginia woolf was born in London, England. She was raised by an open minded family as her father Sir Leslie Stephen was a historian and her mother Julia Stephen was a nurse. She has three full siblings and four half siblings as her parents had been married before marring each others. Like her sisters, Virginia was educated at home. When she was 13, her mother died and two years latter her half sister Stella also died and that affected Virginia badly. In 1904, her father died and that was the collapse to her Psychological condition.In 1912 she married Leonard Woolf and wrote her diary in 1937.She studied Greek ,Latin , German and History. She wrote many novels e.g.: "Mrs. Dalloway "(1925)," To the lighthouse" (1927) "and her final one "Between the acts" (1941).  

  figure6: Virginia Woolf   

In 1941 Virginia fell into depression after the destruction of her home in London after a raid. She decided to drawn herself in a river near her house on 28 March 1941.

2.     Doris Lessing(1919): "You cannot escape the fact that   women mould your first five years, whether you like it or not. And I can't say I do like it very much." Doris Lessing. ): 

  figure7: Doris Lessin

      Lessing was born in Iran to two British parents. Her father Captain Alfred Tayler lost his leg during his service in the World War I and was treated at the Royal Free hospital where he met her mother Emily Tayler. She was educated at Dominican Convent High School. At the age of 14 she left school and became self educated.The following year she worked as a nursemaid then in 1937 as a telephone operator.

        Lessing wrote many novels concerning women's life such as:" the grass is singing" (1959) and "the Golden note book" (1962). She also was awarded many important prizes for instance: Australian state prize for European Literature ( 1981) , W H Smith Literary award (1986) and the Nobel prize in  literature (2007) about which she stated:"   The Nobel Prize is run by a self-perpetuated committee. They vote for themselves and get the world's publishing industry to jump to their tune."

3.    Margaret Drabble (1939):" When nothing is sure, everything is possible." Margaret Drabble.  

  figure8: Margaret Drabble

Drabble was born in Sheffield to the famous author John F Drabble. Her mother was a teacher and she was taught at the school where her mother was a teacher. Then she obtained a major scholarship in Newnham College then she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stanford-Upon-Oven in 1960.

In 1963 she was married to actor Clive swift and has three children .She concentrated on portraying women's sufferings in her works as" The millstone" (1965). She was awarded many prizes such as: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1980) and an honorary Doctorate in Letters (2006). 

The image of women in the eyes of 20th century women novelists:

     Although women writers dealt with almost the issues that men did, they were interested in showing more feelings and consciousness. The novels of Ivy Compton- Burnett (1884-1969) dealt with the family but in a different way. The picture of the family is one where the cruel and deceitful win.

         A lot of women novelists sought to present the social, economical and educational lives of women and their problems according to a feminine point of view. In Doris Lessing's first novel, "the grass is singing" (1959), she shows the life of a poor farmer's wife in South Africa.  "The Golden note book" (1962) is her powerful attempt to write about women's lives and beliefs and the pressures that political and social events in twentieth-century life and society put on them.  (Robert, Gwyneth&G.C Thornily, 1954:159-160)

       Margaret Drabble usually uses women as her main characters but in a different way as their intelligence is directed to study. In " The millstone" (1965) she portraits the story of Rosamund Stacey the attractive graduate whose thesis is on early English poetry. She deceives her friends by telling them that she is carried on with two men at the same time while she is still a virgin.

       Virginia woolf 's  "Mrs. Dalloway "(1925) is one of these novels which deals with the miserable life of the heroine .Claressa Dalloway is a fifty –one- year-old woman who is preparing for a party that evening . The nice day reminds her by her youth and how she spent it in the countryside.she also remembered her husband and her suitor .the novel has no plot but we can easily feel her sufferings through her memories.  

 figure9: Mrs. Dalloway  

    

How is Modern Drama Concerned by Social and Political Criticism?

How is Modern Drama Concerned by Social and Political Criticism? By Sally Atef

"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." George Bernard Shaw

figure 1: the plough and the stars  

      What is Social and Political Criticism? When did it appear? Why did it appear? Who presented that type of drama? How did audiences and spectators receive it? How was this style presented?    

What is social and political criticism?

      Social criticism is also known as Marxist criticism which is like Historical criticism as it sees literature as an echo of the outer environment. It cares of analyzing social problems and tries to make the best use of science as psychology and sociology to get red of them.  

       Political criticism, on the other hand, is also known as political commentary which deals with political issues like wars, political parties, ruling systems and politicians.

The beginning of these types of play:

      As Robert, Gwyneth (1954) pointed out "this type of play (political drama) has a history at least as old as the century". However many critics see that this type started in the Greek theater especially with the Athenian democracy. Some critics consider William Shakespeare (1564-1616) a political dramatist as he wrote many plays dealing with kings and their royal courts such as in Hamlet(1600-1), Othello(1605),King lear (1605) and  Macbeth(1606).   

figure 2:William Shakespeare

        Social drama, as a type of drama which deals with morality, seems to appear in the late medieval drama in the two shepherds plays which reflect the hardships that the northern shepherds suffer whose work was to  sustain the local wool-trade . The two plays also suggest a greater awareness of the realities of rural life than does the more emphatically urban York cycle. The shepherds complain frankly of the cold weather and of oppressive landlords in what at first seems to be a harshly comic farce. (Andrew Sanders, 1994).

 Why did it appear?

        Drama is considered the society's tool for commentary and criticism. What drama does is not only to reflect the society's conditions but also to reform it. Social and political attitudes in writing were as the playwrights' positive tool to face the social and political corruption that prevailed throughout human history so a playwright in a society can be seen as a mirror of the past.

        What makes us think so of the dramatist is that (s)he is one of the society's members affects and is effected by its conditions; suffering its difficulties, feeling its bad values and trying to get solutions for it that’s why Socrates is quoted to say that a playwright is "the gadfly which God has attached to the state and all day long in all places". 

Figure3 Socrates

Dramatists who were involved with presenting social and political plays:

·       John Galsworthy (1867-1933)): Although Galsworthy was born to a wealthy family; he presented the sufferings of people belonging to the law class in his English society. In his play Strife (1909) he portraits the progress of a strike. Another play is Justice (1910) in which he presents the despairing life of a man who writes a false signature and finally kills himself.                            

   Figure4:John Galsworthy

·       Sean O'casey (1880-1964): Growing up in a working class family in Dublin, Ireland, O'casey was influenced by pointing out to the suffering of this class. He was also effected by the events in Ireland earlier the 20^th century. He wrote the shadow of a gunman (1923) during the Irish War of Independence. He shows its impact on the ordinary people.
 In the same context, he writes The Plough and the Stars (1926) about the conflict between the Irish and the English in 1916.

        In most of his plays, it's woman who suffers a lot. That is obvious in his play Juno and the Paycock (1929). The protagonist is an Irish housewife living in Dublin during the Irish War of Independence who is trying to gather her family against the outer challenges.  

 Figure5: Sean O'casey

·       Arnold Wesker (1932): In (1960) he presented his play The kitchen(1960) which came to him during his work at the Bill hotel. The play deals with a group of people who work in a kitchen of a restaurant and he shows the impact of the kitchen on them.                

In Chips with Everything (1970) Wesker describes the English class system in the Air Force.  

 Figure6: Arnold Wesker

·         Trevor Griffiths (1935): Griffiths is interested in social criticism but with a clearer political trend. In The party (1973), a comparison is presented between the welfare life of the middle-class who did not do anything for the revolution and an older man who sacrifies every thing for the sake of his believes.  

  Figure7: Trevor Griffiths