Women's Historical Fiction “After” Feminism

CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Stellenbosch University SUNScholar Repository Women’s Historical Fiction “After” Feminism: Discursive Reconstructions of the Tudors in Contemporary Literature by Jenna Elizabeth Barlow Dissertation presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English at Stellenbosch University Supervisor: Dr. Daniel Roux April 2014 Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration By submitting this thesis, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. April 2014 Copyright © 2014 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved ii Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Abstract Historical fiction is a genre in a constant state of flux: since its inception in the nineteenth century, it has been shaped by cultural trends and has persistently responded to the way in which history is popularly conceptualised. As such, historical novels have always revealed as much about the socio-political context of their moment of production as they do about their historical settings. The advent of feminism was among the most significant movements which shaped the evolution of the women’s historical novel in the twentieth century, prompting as it did a radical shift in historiographic methodology. As feminist discourse became embedded in popular culture in the latter decades of the twentieth century, this shift in turn allowed authors of historical fiction the opportunity to reconsider the ways in which women have been traditionally represented in both historical narrative and fiction. The historical novel thus became a site for exploring the female perspective of history, a perspective that had been denied or ignored by more male-centred historical narratives. This dissertation will assess the impact wrought by the popularisation of feminist discourse on the genre of women’s historical fiction during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. An examination of a selection of contemporary women’s novels set during the Tudor era will prove particularly useful in executing this assessment, not least because of the Tudors’ unprecedented popularity as the focus of literature and film in the last decade. More significantly, the women of this period have proven to be ideal subjects for their authors to imaginatively reconstruct in the mould of third wave feminist icons in the twenty-first century. By examining how Tudor women have been represented in the contemporary historical fiction of Jean Plaidy, Philippa Gregory, Mavis Cheek, Suzannah Dunn and Emily Purdy, this dissertation will demonstrate the ways in which popular feminist discourse has impacted on the development of women’s historical fiction in the last century, focusing specifically on texts published within the last decade. Three key aspects of the genre will be assessed in detail in this regard: the author’s self-conscious feminist intervention in the characterisation of her historical heroines; the shift in the narrative perspective adopted and the deployment of postmodern literary devices; and the representation of female sexuality. The evolution of the genre as a whole will also be examined in some detail, and the shifting parameters of modern feminisms will be interrogated in order to fully understand their manifestations in popular culture. iii Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Opsomming Historiese fiksie is ’n voortdurend veranderende genre: sedert die ontstaan daarvan in die negentiende eeu is dit beïnvloed deur kulturele neigings en het dit aanhoudend bly reageer op die manier waarop die geskiedenis populêr gekonseptualiseer word. As sodanig het historiese romans altyd net soveel oor die sosiopolitieke konteks van hulle produksiemoment as oor hul historiese milieus onthul. Feminisme was een van die betekenisvolste bewegings wat gedurende die twintigste eeu die evolusie van die historiese roman vir vroue sou beïnvloed, en het sodoende aanleiding gegee tot ’n radikale verandering in historiografiese metodologie. Namate feministiese diskoers in die latere dekades van die twintigste eeu deel van die populêre kultuur geword het, het hierdie verandering op sy beurt die skrywers van historiese fiksie die geleentheid gegun om die maniere waarop vroue tradisioneel in sowel historiese narratief as fiksie uitgebeeld is, te heroorweeg. Die historiese roman het dus ’n terrein geword waarop die vroulike perspektief op die geskiedenis verken is, naamlik ’n perspektief wat deur meer manlik-gesentreerde historiese narratiewe ontken of geïgnoreer is. Hierdie verhandeling sal die impak evalueer wat die popularisering van feministiese diskoers op die genre van historiese fiksie vir vroue gemaak het tydens die twintigste en een-en-twintigste eeue. ’n Ondersoek na ’n seleksie van kontemporêre vroueromans wat in die Tudor-tydperk afspeel, is veral nuttig in hierdie verband, onder andere as gevolg van die Tudors se ongekende gewildheid as die fokus van letterkunde en film in die afgelope dekade. Wat meer veelseggend is, is dat dit blyk die vroue van hierdie tydperk was ideale subjekte wat verbeeldingryk deur hulle outeurs gerekonstrueer kon word in die vorm van derdegolf-feministiese ikone in die een-en-twintigste eeu. Deur te ondersoek hoe Tudorvroue uitgebeeld is in die kontemporêre historiese fiksie van Jean Plaidy, Philippa Gregory, Mavis Cheek, Suzannah Dunn en Emily Purdy sal hierdie verhandeling die impak demonstreer wat populêre feministiese diskoers in die afgelope eeu op die ontwikkeling van historiese fiksie vir vroue gemaak het, met die fokus spesifiek op tekste wat in die afgelope dekade gepubliseer is. In hierdie verband sal drie sleutelaspekte van die genre uitvoerig geassesseer word: die skrywer se selfbewuste feministiese ingryping in die karakterisering van haar historiese heldinne; die verskuiwing in die vertellingsperspektief en die ontplooiing van postmoderne letterkundige tegnieke; en die uitbeelding van vroulike seksualiteit. Die evolusie van die genre as geheel word ook beskou, en die veranderende parameters van moderne feminismes word ondervra sodat hul manifestasies in die populêre kultuur ten volle verstaan kan word. iv Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Acknowledgements The financial assistance provided by the Harry Crossley Foundation and Stellenbosch University towards the completion of this project is gratefully acknowledged. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Daniel Roux, for sharing his vast expertise and showing such enthusiastic interest in my research – I am immensely grateful for his prompt, thoughtful, and insightful feedback, as well as his unwavering sense of humour (even when I was on the verge of losing mine). Daniel’s approach to cultural studies, and to academia in general, have taught me more in the past three years than the rest of my studies combined. My sincere gratitude is extended to Dr Bridget Grogan, who did an exceptional job proofreading and commenting on the final draft of my dissertation and who was my most enthusiastic cheerleader during the last stages of its completion. Her pragmatic advice was absolutely invaluable to me. Special mention must be made of my friend and mentor, Dr Jayne Whiffin, who has, over the past decade, proven to be the most influential advisor of my academic career, and who continues to support and encourage me from half a world away. Her comments on early drafts of this dissertation proved instrumental to its development. Thank you to the staff and fellow postgraduate students (past and present) at both Stellenbosch University and Rhodes University, my first academic ‘home’, who have all enriched my research and my understanding of literature over the years. The staff from the Inter-Library Loans department at the Stellenbosch University library also deserve grateful recognition for their ever-friendly assistance over the past three years in sourcing some rather obscure but vital academic texts from every corner of the country. I am very grateful to the authors Philippa Gregory and Suzannah Dunn, who were both so receptive to my queries and generous with their candid revelations and insights into their work. My gratitude must also be extended to Prof Susan Bordo, author of The Creation of Anne Boleyn, for responding to my correspondence with such enthusiasm and encouragement; and to Barb Alexander (better known as “The Tudor Tutor”) and Claire Ridgway (founder of The Anne Boleyn Files) for sharing their informed insights on the popularity of the Tudors in the twenty-first century. Thanks to my family and friends – too numerable to mention – for their unwavering support, and for taking me out of myself every once in a while when I needed reminding that there is life beyond the sixteenth century. I’d also like to honour the memories of my late father, Leonard Williams, and my grandparents, Jean and Eric Newbery, who are all remembered and missed every day. Finally, and most importantly, thanks to my husband, Peter Barlow, for the million little things that make me smile, for his ceaseless encouragement, and for his heroic patience. He always says my job is to “bring the words”, but my gratitude to (and for) him is one thing I can’t articulate.

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