| This chronological analysis of Margaret Drabble's novels through THE MIDDLE GROUND focuses on characters, imagery, structure and point-of-view to stress the enrichment of her works by apparent contradictions that nonetheless make connections. A close textual reading examines the question of Drabble's feminism and shows the development of the themes of connection, community and continuity which are centered in female process. The qualities of female vitality are the qualities associated with creation, whether the creation is of children, of art and culture, or of meaning.; A patriarchal world determines the lives of the early protagonists, but their vitality keeps them open to process, and gives them a positive concept of choice, freedom and restriction. These limited characters ultimately become the powerful and affirmative characters of the later novels. By focusing on inner and outer female spaces, whether in uterine imagery, in images of homes or in natural landscapes, Drabble revisions the female experience to show that female process is enabling, rather than disabling, regenerative rather than debilitating and cause for celebration, rather than for denial. She is creating then a new mythology of the positive aspects of female nature, which includes men in its dynamic whole, but which also could be the source of a new way of living in a world where patriarchal systems have engendered a modern Ice Age.; The "moving sphere" is the best image to reflect Drabble's holistic view of spiritual and human love which can encompass the many contradictory passages in life for men and for women. The connection of nature and people, the connection of a spiritual force in the world and in the individual, the relation of fate and will, all are brought into the circle constantly renewing itself. As her novels progress, they more definitely, but also most subtly, reflect that, for Drabble, the circularity and centrality of women's lives form an organic vision where the whole is created by the flux of connections and contradictions. |
