Ladies of the Ivory Tower Academic Feminism and Feminist Academics in Carol Shields’s Swann, David Lodge’s Nice Work, and A. S. Byatt’s Possession: A Romance Liv Christina Varen A Thesis Presented to The Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages University of Oslo in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the MA Degree Autumn 2012 II Ladies of the Ivory Tower Academic Feminism and Feminist Academics in Carol Shields’s Swann, David Lodge’s Nice Work, and A. S. Byatt’s Possession: A Romance Liv Christina Varen III © Liv Christina Varen 2012 Ladies of the Ivory Tower: Academic Feminism and Feminist Academics in Carol Shields’s Swann, David Lodge’s Nice Work, and A. S. Byatt’s Possession: A Romance Liv Christina Varen http://www.duo.uio.no/ Trykk: Kopianstalten AS, Kristiansand IV Abstract This thesis explores the representation and negotiation of academic feminism and feminist academics in three best-selling campus novels: Carol Shields’ Swann (1987), David Lodge’s Nice Work (1988), and A.S Byatt’s Possession: A Romance (1990). It is based on the assumption that academic fiction may function as a significant contribution to academic and social debate, allowing for other modes of staging and exploring feminist issues than those offered by academic non-fiction. The close-readings of these three novels are supplemented by discussions concerning interpretive possibilities and reception in relation to the authors’ public profiles, as these possibilities arguably entail a particular emphasis on representational responsibility in terms of reception. The latter is here assumed to depend, in part, on the cognitive interaction of the author’s public profile and the reader’s interpretive horizon. V VI Acknowledgements I am forever grateful to my supervisor, Associate Professor Rebecca Scherr, whose sound advice, patience and kindness made all the difference. Thank you for making it easier. I am also much indebted to Nina Engebak Yardley. Not only for proofreading and giving valuable feedback on my drafts, but for profound friendship, encouragement and unwavering faith in me. Thank you for “stitching tight my daily soul”. Many warm thanks are also owed to my parents, Berit Anne Ugland and Johan Varen Ugland, for financial and emotional support throughout this project. Thank you for still being my safety net. Lastly, I must thank my fellow graduates for excellent conversation and lots of laughs during our time together in the thesis bubble. VII VIII Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 Academic fiction and previous research on women academics in literature ......................... 2 The texts and their authors ..................................................................................................... 4 Feminism in academia: a brief historical outline ................................................................... 9 Theoretical and methodological framework......................................................................... 11 Chapter outline ..................................................................................................................... 16 1 Carol Shields’s Swann ...................................................................................................... 18 1.1 The lone feminist of Swann: Dr Sarah Maloney ....................................................... 18 1.2 Biography and the confessional female poet ............................................................. 21 1.3 Feminist literary criticism and aesthetic merit in women’s writing .......................... 27 1.4 The feminist enterprise and struggle for academic power ......................................... 31 1.5 Critical reception: Swann as theoretical discourse .................................................... 35 1.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 41 2 David Lodge’s Nice Work ................................................................................................ 42 2.1 The institutionalization and specialization of feminism in Nice Work ...................... 42 2.2 Academic feminism below the ivory tower ............................................................... 46 2.3 Appearance and objectification in poststructuralist feminist identity ....................... 50 2.4 Poststructuralist feminism, sexuality and gender dynamics ...................................... 56 2.5 Critical reception: Nice Work as theoretical discourse .............................................. 62 2.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 67 3 A. S. Byatt’s Possession: A Romance .............................................................................. 70 3.1 Feminist literary criticism and textual sexuality ........................................................ 70 3.2 Literature and the feminist revising of history .......................................................... 75 3.3 Women’s Studies and the problem of marginality .................................................... 78 3.4 The Sisterhood ........................................................................................................... 80 3.5 Female autonomy and erotic relationships ................................................................ 83 3.6 Critical reception: Possession: A Romance as theoretical discourse ......................... 89 3.7 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 95 4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 97 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................ 103 IX X Introduction During the course of my studies at the University of Oslo, I have become increasingly interested in gender studies and feminist approaches to literary theory and criticism. The courses I have taken on these subjects have raised my consciousness as well as a great many difficult questions concerning gender identity and gendered power structures, in language, literature and criticism, as well as in other areas of society. Although the questions must necessarily greatly outnumber the answers, the destabilisation of certain assumed truths and the discovery of new ways of thinking about gender have been refreshing and liberating in spite the confusion that must necessarily arise from attempting to navigate within such a vast field of theory. I find, however, that when I share my thoughts about this field with people who are unfamiliar with feminist theory, the very word “feminism” often provokes a highly sceptical attitude. They may agree that both sexes should enjoy equal civil rights and professional as well as domestic opportunities. They may even agree that feminine values deserve the same social status and appreciation as masculine values.1 Yet, they are reluctant to identify themselves as feminists, as if this label reaches beyond reasonable concern into fanaticism and paranoia – perhaps because the significant battles appear to have been won at this point, in Scandinavia at least. Another reason for such reluctance may be ignorance as to what this subscription entails, which is understandable. After all, feminist thought encompasses a variety of divergent and often contradictory convictions about what gender equality and individual freedom should mean and how we should go about achieving it. The fairly new arrival of so-called stiletto-feminism arguing that stripping and pornography may be sexually and socially empowering to women, makes the confusion absolute.2 From these experiences, I must necessarily gather that some knowledge of feminist theory and gender studies would be useful and relevant to more than the female academics who arguably take the greatest interest in it. However, given that feminist thinking may appear somewhat intangible and even irrelevant to a great many people at the present time, I must ask: Are we all so perfectly liberated that we no longer have need for feminism? Or have the feminists laboriously climbed the ivory tower only to find that they cannot get down 1 By “feminine” and “masculine”, I am referring to gendered qualities rather than gender qualities. That is, if I refer to a man as having feminine traits, I do not mean that these traits are automatically incompatible with his male identity. 2 The term “stiletto feminism” is borrowed from Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture. 1 again? That the former is not the case, I am quite convinced. As to the latter, there might be something to it. However, academics do not only write academic non-fiction, some also write more widely accessible texts that may and do serve as vehicles for negotiating ideas hatched in scholarly research. One such vehicle is the academic novel, which may, at its best, convey sophisticated theoretical problems to a greater public – and entertain them at that. A more extensive characterization of this genre will follow, suffice it for now to establish that the apparent great popular appeal of certain academic novels makes for a complex and fascinating intersection between academic and popular culture that I could not resist delving