In the "shadow" of of Virginia Woolf : a comparative study of selected novels by 20th century British women writers

Abstract

Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own (1928) and Three Guineas (1938) are considered by many critics as pioneer works which are instrumental in formulating feminist literary criticism. Being discontented with gender inequality imposed on women by patriarchy, her female-centric views on emancipation of women are pertinent in those two works. This thesis recognises Woolf for raising the issues of women’s empowerment and presenting provoking thoughts on the need for the emancipation of women. Woolf envisages a future society in which women are able to function as equals of men. This research attempts to examine the influence of Virginia Woolf’s feminist thoughts in selected works by three contemporary British women writers: Beryl Bainbridge, A.S. Byatt, and Margaret Drabble. This research uses Woolf’s two texts as the analytical framework to examine the extent to which the selected writers echo the concerns, complaints and complexities of feminist issues raised by Woolf decades ago. This research exposes the obstructions, constraints, and challenges women have to face to be in the public front. It also charts the gradual changes in the traditional values upheld by women for more than half a century after Woolf’s advocacy of female-centric issues on both the domestic and public front. The voices of the three selected writers echo Woolf’s feminist thoughts which emphasize that the success of women’s struggle against patriarchy is only possible if the confinement of women in domesticity, and marginalisation of women in the public front can be eliminated by giving women equal opportunities in every field.