| This thesis focuses on the role of the female characters in the early works of French novelist Simone de Beauvoir and French-Canadian novelist Gabrielle Roy. The study is original in that it employs the New Historicism to go beyond studying the fictional context of the novels and offer a comparative analysis of the gender, social, political, religious, and economic conditions, both in France and Quebec, as employed by each author, during the period of the Second World War.;Gabrielle Roy, on the other hand, was never acclaimed a feminist. She was, however, one of the first French-Canadian novelists to break away from the very conservative, traditional, rural, and pastoral themes that had predominated Quebecois literature since the nineteenth century. Roy situated her first novel, Bonheur d'occasion, within an urban context, and shed light on the changes that were occurring in Quebec in the 1940s. No author had ever spoken as openly on the effects of capitalism and industrialisation in Quebec.;Part two introduces the New Historicism as the theoretical basis for the study. One of the key concepts of the New Historicism is that literary and non-literary texts circulate inseparably; text must be seen as context, and context as text. By using the New Historicism, the early works of these women novelists are interpreted within their historical context. The contemporary struggles, debates, and anxieties of the female characters, as reflected in L'Invitee and Bonheur d'occasion are examined. This method of literary analysis acknowledges that while authors may be observers of their culture, they are neither removed from it nor omniscient. The author is, in fact, both part of, and a product of culture.;Part three is divided into three chapters and examines the role of women in the context of the Second World War, both in France and in Quebec. Issues such as religion, education, vocation, family and sexuality are addressed, through the lense of gender, both on a literary and social level.;The study is divided into three parts. Part one, which consists of two chapters, provides a short biography of Simone de Beauvoir and Gabrielle Roy, examines their literary achievements, and offers an analysis of their first novels, L'Invitee and Bonheur d'occasion. Beauvoir and Roy are not only contemporary authors; they are pioneers. Beauvoir is best known as the author of the monumental essay on the condition of women, Le Deuxieme sexe. Although she was not the first French female writer to address the plight of women, she did offer women in the post-war era the opportunity to re-examine their situation by taking into account the ways in which history, literature, and society contributed to their oppression. Beauvoir, who did not proclaim herself a feminist until the 1970's, has been recognized by many as the mother of modern feminism.;While Simone de Beauvoir and Gabrielle Roy each published their first novels during World War Two, their personal experiences, as well as their cultural and intellectual backgrounds were quite different and this is reflected in their work. While neither proclaimed herself a feminist at the time, they both created impressive female characters who display some early signs of feminist thought. |
