Writing the sixties: gender representations in the fiction of Kingsley Amis, John Fowles and Margaret Drabble

Abstract

This thesis examines how changes in gender relations occurring in the British society of the 1960s were depicted in the fiction of the period. In particular, it analyses the specific gender representations found in the work of Kingsley Amis, John Fowles and Margaret Drabble. By locating the major differences in the way gender is inscribed in the work of the above authors it raises the question of the role of the gender and ideological position of the writers in the establishment of their perspective. The analysis revolves round the central question of the relation between literature and its context. Therefore, it situates the novels in question within the social, ideological and literary context of the time when they were produced and, through a detailed textual analysis, it delineates the multiple and complex ways in which the particular fictions engage with their context. The first chapter offers an account of the social and ideological context of the sixties by concentrating on three particular areas: legislative changes, ideological debates and the emergence of radical movements. The second chapter establishes the critical perspective from which the novels are approached by situating it within the broader framework of contemporary schools of feminist literary criticism. The third, fourth and fifth chapters are devoted to a textual analysis of three major novels by each of the three authors.