Durham E-Theses Connecting theory and ction: Margaret Atwood's novels and second wave feminism Tolan, Fiona How to cite: Tolan, Fiona (2004) Connecting theory and ction: Margaret Atwood's novels and second wave feminism, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2972/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Fiona Tolan Connecting Theory and Fiction: Margaret Atwood's Novels and Second Wave Feminism Abstract This thesis undertakes an examination of the manner in which a novelist interacts with a contemporary theoretical discourse. I argue that the novelist and the theoretical discourse enter into a symbiotic relationship in which each influences and is influenced by the other. This process, I suggest, is simultaneous and complex. The thesis demonstrates how the prevailing theoretical discourse is absorbed by the contemporary author, is developed and redefined in conjunction with alternative concerns, and comes to permeate the narrative in an altered state. The novelist's new perspectives, frequently problematising theoretical claims, are then disseminated by the novel, promoting further discussion and development of the theoretical discourse. The thesis focuses on the novels of Margaret Atwood, considering them in relation to the history and development of second wave feminism. "Second wave feminism" is understood as an umbrella term that incorporates a wide variety of related but diverse and occasionally contradictory discourses, centring on the subjects of gender, femininity, and sexuality. The focus of the discussion is dual and presented simultaneously. Atwood's novels are analysed chronologically, and within the parameter of this analysis I demonstrate how her work has been influenced by earlier feminist theories, how it comments upon a variety of contemporary feminist ideas, and how it can be seen to anticipate further discussions within feminist discourse. Finally, I identify moments in Atwood's writing when alternative discourses compete with feminism to create new directions for feminist criticism. Examples of these discourses include Canadian nationalism, liberalism, communitarianism and environmentalism. The specificity of the novelist's interests and politics create a unique site of interaction for feminism which, I argue, benefits feminist theory by challenging, broadening and diversifying its focus. The thesis concludes that the symbiotic relationship of the theorist and the novelist is self-perpetuating and is also necessary and beneficial to both parties. Connecting Theory and Fiction: Margaret Atwood's Novels and Second Wave Feminism Fiona Tolan PhD University of Durham Department of English Studies 2004 A copyrigllnt of this tlb.esns rests with the arlllthor. No quotation from nt sllnould be pubDished witllnout his prior wriUellll consel!llt and illlformatftol!ll dlernvedl from it shouDd be adrnowledlged. ~ 3 JlJl 2004 Acknowledgements Many people supported and advised me during the writing of this thesis, and made my time at the University of Durham a happy and productive one. In particular, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Patricia Waugh, whose help, guidance and support was invaluable. Without her encouragement, inspiration and good humour, my experience would have been poorer. I would also like to thank those who supported me financially: the Department of English Studies at the University of Durham gave me a much-needed studentship; the Canadian High Commission funded a research visit to the University of Toronto; the British Federation of Women Graduates gave me a research grant; and I received travel funds from the Durham University Graduate Society (now Ustinov College) and from the British Association of Canadian Studies Literature Group. The friends I met in Durham made my time here a pleasure: Shilpa, Eva, Marko, Jelena, Julie, Doug, Achilleas, Heleen, Pamela, Greg, Olga, Angel, Naima, Eddie, Veronique, Rainer, Maria-Jose, Thomas, Maria-Angelica. Thank you to my family: Sarah, John, Shaun and Kevin. And finally, thank you to Marco, who was always there. Declaration The whole of this thesis is the result of the independent work of the author. No part of the material contained in the thesis has previously been submitted for a degree in this or any other university. Statement of Copyright The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published in any form, including electronic and the internet, without the author's prior written consent. All information derived from this thesis must be acknowledged appropriately. © Fiona Tolan 2004 Table of Contents • Introduction .............................................................................. 1 • Context: A Literary Critical Perspective 4 • Readers, Writers, and Communication 8 • Chapter One "The Edible Woman: The Psychology of Early Second Wave Feminism" ... 13 • Why Can't a Woman be More Like a Man? 15 • Hysterical Discourse 26 • Psychoanalysis and the Consumer Culture 30 • Psychoanalysis and Mock-Romance 35 • Chapter Two "Surfacing: Origins and Identity" ....................................................39 • A Peculiarly Canadian Feminism 40 • Authenticity and the Wilderness Quest 42 • Ecofeminism and "The Great Canadian Victim Complex" 46 • Object Relations Theory: The Omnipotent Mother 49 • Nature and the Female Body 53 • Guilt and Innocence 55 • Liberalism and the Essential Self 58 • Chapter Three "Lady Oracle: Postmodernism and the Body" .....................................63 • The Postmodern Aesthetic 63 • The Democratisation of the Author 68 • Postmodernism and Feminism 71 • Textuality and the Inescapable Prison 75 • Matrophobia 78 • Gender and Masquerade 88 • Chapter Four "Life Before Man: Feminism and Science" .........................................91 • The Sociobiology of the 1970s 92 • Atwood's Darwin 95 • Feminism and Science or The Pregnant Palaeontologist 100 • Science and Nature: The Will to Power 104 • The Feminist Response to Darwin 110 • Chapter Five "Bodily Harm: The Imprisoning Gaze" ............................................. 120 • The Power of the Gaze 122 • Tourism: The Disembodied Gaze 129 e A Gothic Fairytale 133 • The Gothic Other 139 • The Question of Responsibility 141 e Chapter Six "The Handmaid's Tale: Second Wave Feminism as Anti-Utopia" ............ 145 ., Utopia and Anti-Utopia 147 e Feminist Eutopias 157 • Liberals and Communitarians 159 o Metafiction and Metahistory 169 • Chapter Seven "Cat's Eye: Articulating the Body" ..................................................173 • French Feminism and the Essential Body 175 • Fashion and the Construction of Gender 179 • Articulating the Body 188 • Beginnings 191 • Images of the Unconscious and the Semiotic - 193 • To Reconnect the Body 196 e Chapter Eight "The Robber Bride: The Other Woman in Post-Colonial Discourse" ........ 200 • Black Feminism 201 • Atwood as Post-Colonial Writer 203 • The Other Woman 205 • "Other" Women 209 • A Double-Voiced Discourse 212 • Orientalism and Exoticism 215 • Zenia: Double and Other 219 • Chapter Nine "Alias Grace: Narrating the Self' ....................................................225 • Patchwork Quilts 227 • Can Grace Speak? 230 • Telling Stories 234 • The Discourse of Madness 237 • Revealing the Self 244 • Chapter Ten "The Blind Assassin: The End of Feminism?" .....................................253 • Postfeminism 254 • A More Postmodern Feminism? 258 • Myth and Metaphor 260 • Personal or Political? 267 • Transcendence and the Ageing Body 269 • The End of Feminism? 272 • Conclusion ................................................................................276 • Original Scholarship 279 • Beyond 2000. 284 • Works Cited .............................................................................. 289 1 Introduction "I live in the society; I also put the society inside my books so that you get a box within a box effect." (Margaret Atwood) 1 Any undertaking to examine the nature of the relationship between fiction and theory is immediately problematic. So many of the most elemental aspects of the discussion are contentious. How can a novelist be said to relate to a particular theory to which they claim no allegiance, and further, how can the abstractions of a theoretical discourse be said to enter into a relationship with a novelist? And more pertinently, if such a relationship is to be presumed to exist, is it demonstrable? The novelist to be considered here is Margaret Atwood, and her work will be examined in conjunction with second wave feminism. Atwood is thought to be an appropriate subject for two reasons; firstly, her career, which for this purpose is dated from the writing of her first novel in 1965, spans the four decades in which second wave feminism has so actively developed and counter-developed, and secondly, because