Feminism in Contemporary American Novels

It would be a fool's errand simply to declare without discussion feminism a major component of contemporary fiction since World War II because although the war did much to shift popular culture and mores toward feminism, it appears to have acted more as a catalyst than as agent of feminist tendencies in American fiction. Indeed, there is compelling evidence of attention to (though not necessarily acceptance of) attitudes and themes familiar to modern feminists in much fiction and nonfiction written in the Victorian period. Further, American feminist fiction owes a good deal to its English counterpart, particularly in the early years of the century and particularly after World War I, which caused both social and political upheaval and which saw a whole range of issues related to women's rights come to the fore.

In short, in order to see where contemporary American novels are in respect of feminism, one must first see the fits and starts of both the novel and feminism before the modern period. The genesis of modern feminism is itself relevant in th

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of women's rights. First, the writer has to establish her credibility or credentials for commenting on the subject. Second, she has to be quite specific in her use of evidence to make her case. Third, and related to this, she seeks to provide an alternative interpretation to the one that has sanctioned received wisdom, which suggests her awareness that the social leadership tends to have interpretation on its side. It is not too much to say that this approach flies in the faith of conventional wisdom of the period, yet it does not reject the conventions of Christian faith. Instead, Grimke claims the authority of spiritual teachings for her own purposes. In other words, if her interpretation is granted, then the authority of the bible will be in the service of the new interpretation. Grimke does not so much seek to interpret the patriarchalism of the Hebrews as such as to interpret the ancient Hebrew culture in a way that validates the patriarchalism of God but not of man. Elsewhere, she points out the virtual enslavement of women in primitive, non-Christian Asian and African cultures, with a view toward showing that similar behavior in advanced, Christian cultures is doubly unacceptable, as is the fact that "we find our clerical
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Approximate Word count = 10839
Approximate Pages = 43 (250 words per page)

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