| This study is occasioned primarily owing to the lack of any specific critical approach to Golding's treatment of women in his work. My concern is particularly with Golding's representation of the voices of women, either muted or silenced, in different time periods and with his handling of issues central to the study of women's history.;Reading "against the grain," the other half of the Golding texts becomes visible: we are alerted to presences and absences that restructure texts we thought we knew. In some texts--as in the "plot" of The Scorpion God--Golding can be seen as a writer doing a feminist writing; as a reader one need simply unmask his feminist irony. In some--as in the instance of my reading of Goody Pangall in The Spire and Mary Lou in The Paper Men--the texts may not be intentionally subversive but allow a subversive reading.;With a "raised consciousness" and a schema centered on a female viewpoint, Golding readers will discover a new dimension of understanding. In fact, a new consciousness emerges--a consciousness that does not adopt the position of the androcentric character focalizer, a consciousness that acknowledges that the female characters though muted and silenced have a story to tell and are important in and for themselves. It is, moreover, a consciousness that gives credence to a whole new dimension of literary interpretation--one that will attract more critical attention as time passes. I refer specifically to Golding's use of gender positions. As readers, by suppressing the female voice in Golding scholarship, we perpetuate androcentric readings, further incapacitating our endeavors to "extract" meaning from his texts.;Adopting a feminist framework, available both to a male or female reader, I critique the canon of William Golding. I seek to deliver Golding to posterity in his fullness--to redress the incrustation of Golding in patriarchal interpretation, so that future readers will be enthralled with Golding on the right terms. Rather than undermine the father's text for the sole purpose of furnishing evidence of misogyny, I endeavor to modify current androcentric readings of Golding's ostensibly single sexed world. |
