Identity, second-wave feminism, and the novel of re-development

This dissertation identifies emerging forms in women's novels of female development, as these novels responded to the changes in women's lives brought about by the social and political changes of the 1960s and 1970s, primarily No-Fault Divorce legislation (1970), Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the second-wave feminist movement (1960–1975). The second-wave feminist movement encouraged women to examine closely their relationship to their reproductive powers and the social institutions which inscribed and defined them by that power alone. These social and political changes had a profound affect on women's lives and on the fictional narratives that explore and reflect women's lives.; One of the most interesting and predominant narrative strategies that emerged in women's literature over the course of the twentieth century and became more prolific in the last quarter of the century, following the social revolutions of second-wave feminism outlined above, is the re-development novel. The female re-development novel evolved out of the older Bildungsroman form, but rather than simply twisting an older narrative pattern, the re-development narrative strategy is complete within itself and presents an independent narrative form. The re-development novel begins not only in medias res but also with an adult protagonist who, for reasons internal or external, must re-evaluate who she is, where she is, and her place in the world. The internal/external reasons for the protagonist's re-evaluation make up the sub-genres of this narrative strategy.; Novels of re-development are characterized by an adult protagonist who, for either external or internal reasons, finds that her old life is no longer possible and begins a journey of self-discovery on which she explores who she is, what she wants and re-creates for herself a new life. Central to this re-development is a concept of identity formation that is fluid and cyclic rather than linear and static. The historicity of these novels is particularly important since individual perceptions of identity and personal possibility are inseparable from overarching social changes in cultural perceptions of women's capabilities and rights.