| Virginia Woolf, one of the most outstanding British women writers in 20th century, is the forerunner in Western feminism. Chen Ran is one of the representatives of Chinese pioneer fiction and feminist literature. Her works mainly focus on the existent circumstances of human beings, from the perspective of contemporary intellectual female. Although living in two different cultures and histories, the two women writers have much in common in reality—male authority in the barrier to the development of their spirits, so overthrow of patriarchy and the expression of female consciousness become the common desire of their literary creation. Based on the feminist literary theory, the thesis compares their distinctively creative ways and theories and observes their rich feminist thoughts by analyzing the concrete texts.I. The other 's Narration 1.1. Phallocentrism and Feminine Consciousness First the thesis defines two important terms. 'Phallocentrism' is an attitude that confirms the value of male, maintains the social rights of them and then makes patriarchy the center of social rules. The symbolic order it represents makes the axis of entire Western cultural tradition from Plato. Feminine consciousness is an independent ideology different from male consciousness, whereas it is restricted by sex and cultural background. Phallocentrism in literature is to 'rape' female consciousness by male standard and submerge women's voice. Therefore, in Eastern and Western cultures, the subordinate status of female is exactly the same.1.2 Patriarchal Authority: the Attachment in Subconsciousness Virginia Woolf (whose mother died when Woolf was young and who was ignored by her father) and Chen Ran (who live with her mother after divorce) have Electra complex in their mind and then influence their works. Their ways of expression are different: Woolf's father is the prototype of her characters while in Chen Ran's works, father image is replaced by a series of doctor images with smoothing ability. This attachment shows that there still is male authority in their works.II. Awakening Feminine Consciousness2.1 'A Room of One's Own' Aware of the difficulty in ideology and literary writing of feminine, Woolf in the early 20th century wrote 'A Room of One's Own', emphasizing feminine consciousness. She points out: the difficulties that female writers face is the lack of materials, education and experience their writings need instead of the lack of inspiration. She uses the hypothesis that Shakespeare had a sister to demonstrate that the freedom of wisdom totally depends on material environment. Chen Ran keenly catches the real connotation of Woolf's 'own room' and extends her theory more critically: women should have a soul room to break male's conscious imprisonment and write their own consciousness freely.2.2 From the Attaching to Murdering By using anti-family narrative mode, Woolf and Chen Ran negatively describe the traditional family which depresses women's body and soul like a prison. They try to make the dominating power—father the stated object. This is not only the self-examination of male authority represented by father, but also the endowment of subjective status of their own voices.2.3 Writings that Break the Imprisonment In the rebellion of the current writing system, Woolf and Chen Ran have a try respectively in how to break the imprisonment of Phallocentrism and how to construct the female discourse centered on female statements. Woolf goes deep in female inner world, explores writing strategies like consciousness stream and claims that female writers should break the durance. Her works imply her desire to express the depressed ardor by describing the most secret experience and desire of the female.III. Consciousness of Solitude: Existent AfflictionDuring the process of expressing free perseverance, the feminine are prone to spiritual solitude owing to excessively regarding the heartfelt experience. Woolf and Chen Ran's solitude, w... |
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