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Constructions of Women in Relation to the Politics and Ideals of Androgyny in Some of the Works of Virginia Hloolf, Doris Lessing, Joan Barfoot and Angela Carter

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Constructions of Women in Relation to the Politics and Ideals of Androgyny in Some of the Works of Virginia Hloolf, Doris Lessing, Joan Barfoot and Angela Carter 3r'3 Constructions of women in relation to the politics and ideals of androgyny in some of the works of Virginia hloolf, Doris Lessing, Joan Barfoot and Angela Carter By Hettie Tinsley Thesis submitted to the Department of English Language and Literature, The University of Adelaide. as the requirement for the Master of Arts degree. L992 Ê\,ue'v\ed tq.lí SUMMARY This thesis looks at the traditional role of androgyny in regard to sexual politics and the use of the concept in the works of four twentieth century women wrÍters. Viewed in an historÍco-political context in Chapter l- androgyny, tike gender, is seen to have worked in favour of the patriarchy with its bÍnary system of male and female, which always operates to the advantage of the male. In fact, a concept of androgyny relies on this dyadic structure to have meaning itself. The compulsory heterosexuality upon which society is based depends upon rigid gender definition, yet must account for a surplus which is inexplicable without a concept of androgyny. Androgyny therefore becomes the repository of all that gender excludes. This inevitable outcome of gender definition is given transcendental status by its seemÍng wholeness and completion. Such characteristics, which accorded with the Iiberal humanist philosophy, are thrown into doubt by Freudian psychoanalytic theory. Both the given nature of the self and sexual difference, crucial consideratÍons in a readÍng of androgyny, are challenged by Freud's positing of the constructed setf. ThÍs has been the focus of my reading of Virginia tdoolf 's To the Lighthogse in Chapter 2 and The hlaves in Chapter 6. Rather than viewing the two novels as I¡IooIf 's valorisation of androgyny I belÍeve they represent her exposure of the patriarchal ideology implicit in the concept. I also suggest she indicates a 'new' androgyny based on a recognitfon and articulation of female sexuality r,\rhich bears striking simitarity to much current French feminist thought. The L960s and 1970s' saw a re-emergence of interest in androgyny generated by the feminist movement and the political push for material equality. The most influential work at this time r^Ias Carolyn Heilbrun's Towards a Recoqnit íon of Androqrznv which implied that androgYny u¡as 'natural' to both sexes, and had the potential to resolve gender conftict. In relation to the material conditions of r^romen assuming androgynous roles in society at this time I have discussed Doris Lessing's The Gotden Notebook and Joan Barfoot's Gaininq Ground in Chapter 3. Both raise the assumptions and problems which adhere to such emancipated roles for women, not least their conflict with traditional role models and the guilt associated with their rejection. In revealing the constructed nature of gender I have discussed Virginia htoolf's Orlando and Angela Carter's The Passion of New Eve in Chapter 4. Though written over 50 years apart the novels are comparable in their exposure of the arbitrary nature of gender and sexuality. Both disrupt historical models, I,rloo1f through her displacement of time and space, Carter through a characteristic intertextuality which forces a re-reading of the canon of patriarchal disCourse. Carter's rewriting of phallocentric myths, irl order to challenge the roles which women are ascribed historically, iS discerned in two novels, Heroes and Villains and Nights at the Circus. Here the Amazon ütarraor- woman is rewritten from a feminist perspective. This is the focusofChapter5,wherelhavediscussedhowthe marginalised and alienated figure of the Amazon comes to be centralised and positively determined as a female model in Carter's texts. IhaveconcludedmythesiswithareadingofVirginia l,rloolf 's The l¡Iaves and its involvement with identity in chapter 6. I have placed this novel out of historical order because it is apparent to me that tdoolf stilt has much to say that informs current feminist thinking on the articulation of the female subject and the androgynous ideal. hloolf's insistence that women should write themselves into history ís relevant to the écriture rénTnine of theorists such as Hélène cixous and Luce Irigaray. she points the way to a new kind of androgyny, freed of patriarchat ideology' where both sexes are articulated in difference, of alterity, and the opportunity to aesthetically transcend such difference becomes Possible. STATEMENT This thesis contaÍns no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any other university; nor, to the best of my knowledge and belief, does it contain any materÍaI previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text or notes. I consent to the thesÍs being made available for photocopying and loan, if accepted for the award of the degree. signed Hettie Tinsley. ACKNOIII¡LEDGEMENTS I should tike to acknowledge the support and encouragement of Dr Rosemary Moore, partÍcu1ar1y on those numerous occasions when I felt like giving up. Her wise and consistent counsel was a much-needed balance to my ftights of fancy. I should also like to thank Howard Tinsley for hÍs help in proof-reading; a task which incurs all of the drudgery but none of the adventure of thesis-writing. For my mottrer, for whom Lacan does not exist. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1_ CHAPTER 1 Defining androgyny within an historico- political context. 6 CHAPTER 2 Complementary gender and sexual difference' the neuter, and possibility in Virginia trloolf 's To t he Liqhthouse. 23 CHAPTER 3 Female essence, the fragmentation of self and the quest for a unifler in Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook and Joan Barfoot's Gaininq Ground. 49 CHAPTER 4 Specular misrecognition and the politfcs of cross-dressing in Virginia t'rloolf 's Orlando and Ang ela Carter's The Passion of New Eve. 7L CHAPTER 5 Rewriting the Amazon-warrior myth in Angela Carter's Heroes and Villains and Niqhts at the Circus. 93 CHAPTER 6 The lady writing: identitY. discourse and the androgynous dialectic of The lrlaves. L23 CHAPTER 7 Feminism, alterity and androgyny. 148 CONCLUSION L52 ENDNOTES r.58 BIBTIOGRAPHY t73 ABBREVIATIONS TL To the Lighthouse GN The Golden Notebook GG Gaining Ground o Orlando PNE The Passion of New Eve HV Heroes and Villains NC Nights at the Circus TTÂI The hlaves INTRODUCTION My initial interest in the concept of androgyny arose from reading VÍrgínia Ï¡'loolf 's novels. The concept seemed unproblematic, and was very much viewed from the perspective of a tiberat humanist tradition whÍch placed androgyny in the role of a transcendentat sexual unifier. I thought such a readÍng would have value in the context of feminÍsm' containing as it did notions of balance, harmony and equality between the Sexes. I Soon came to regard this as a naive appraisal of the concept in every aspect, not least in establishing a working definition of what I mean by the term. Defining androgyny here and now Ís problematic. Its complex, over-determi-ned history aS a signifier continues to escape fixed meaning. It iS the "ÍmpossÍble referent" according to Francette Pacteaul. This is a commonly held view. D.A.Harris, in "Androgyny: the sexist myth in disguÍse" points out that the concept is "a purely imagÍnative construct, unusually malleable because it corresponds to nothing we commonly observe in our experien"S2 This seems a useful start from a femÍnist perspective. If the myth is able to sustain itself outsÍde patriarchal 'reality' then it may offer a challenge to the ideology under which lrloman, also, does not exÍst. The co- existence of both masculine and feminine attributes within the subject, regardless of sexual orientation, takes on extra meaning in a modern, post-FreudÍan reading, and the concept has undergone dynamic revision to the point $¡here its L overdetermination renders it a1most meaningless. It is extended by some writers to include physical characteristics and proclivities, specificatty in relation to sexuality. I intend separating it from such concepts as homosexuality, bisexuality, transexuality and hermaphroditism. These terms, whÍte relevant to sgme novels under dÍscuSsion, are not Ínterchangeable h¡ith androgyny according to my definition. For my purposes, dístinction is drawn between male/ female/ hermaphrodite and masculine/ femÍnine/ androgyne. According to my definÍtion androgyr'ry cannot be either gender or value free. It cannot be used to describe a pre- tinguistic originary state of undifferentÍated sexuality to which many myths refer (though I have quoted from writers who define it thus) because it only has meaning in relation to gender. Neither Ís it a transcendental, genderless condition to which numerous relÍgions aspire, though it may have the potential to be so. I believe it is a particular aspect of gender politics, culturally constructed within the phallocentric framework of hlestern ideology to maintain patriarchal supremacy, just aS masculine and feminine are. By androgyny I refer specifically to a psychological subject position which is not bound at a gÍven time by gender constraints. ThÍs does not imply a gender-free positÍon' it cannot be, though the potentÍal for such a position wÍll be discussed in the course of this thesis. Rather, it impLies all that can be ascribed to the masculÍne or feminine, without fixed points due to biological determinism or cultural construction, whether this be Socially defined as 'normal' or 2 'abnormal' for the subject. Bound to a compulsory heterosexuality upon which cutture is based, androgyny must be as closely implicated in patriarchal ideology as masculine and feminine gender and is therefore never value-free. Ilowever, like all binary systems, gender has wÍthin it the condÍtÍons for its own deconstruction, and I propose that the concept of androgyny indicates this breakdown point- other terms I shall use atso need clarifÍcation. Throughout this thesis I will adhere to the distinctions between 'malet and 'female', tmaSCuline' and 'feminine' ngw common in feminist discourse.
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