The Subversion Of Phallocentricism

Doris Lessing (1919--), who has special experience, strong conscience for the society and great sense of literary mission, is not only a distinguished English novelist but also a representative writer of modern feminist literary criticism of the twentieth century. Her unique female consciousness runs through her whole literary works. She demonstrates her feminist ideology in To Room Nineteen, The Grass Is Singing and The Children of Violence. Her masterpiece The Golden Notebook is regarded as the"Bible"by many feminists because of its successful depiction of an image of free women represented by Anna and its subtle delineation of women's awkward marginal position and the repression they suffer in the modern industrial society dominated by patriarchy.By combining the viewpoint of feminist criticism with the method of narratology, the present thesis concentrates on Lessing's masterpiece The Golden Notebook for a thematic study. Its analysis of this book from the angle of narrative perspective, structure and female experience shows the repression of Phallocentricism on women and how Lessing deconstructs the patriarchal system and how she constructs the female discourse.The thesis is composed of five parts. The Introduction is a brief survey of Lessing's literary accomplishments including studies on her works and the overall structure of the thesis. Chapter Two discusses he feminist literary criticism and the method of narratology, which act as a theoretical support for the analysis. Chapter Three portrays two different types of woman images who are under the control of Phallocentricism, pointing out that the cause of women's agony is rooted in patriarchy. Chapter Four employs the two above-mentioned methodologies to show Lessing's subversion of Phallocentricism and her construction of female discourse. The Conclusion deepens the understanding of Lessing's thoughts and writings from the previous analysis. She uses the unconventional way such as the internal focalization and the circular and disordered narrative structure to fully depict female life experience and construct the female discourse on a solid ground. Doris Lessing employs various original narrative skills to make a daring attempt in female literature. Though Lessing claims never to be a feminist, the significance in ideology, sociology and culture reflected in this novel distinctly interprets the efforts and struggles Lessing has made on the way of women's liberation.