Abstract

FEMINISTIC THEMES IN FAY WELDON'S NOVELS

Sheetal Sharma

Volume: 1 Issue: 1 2011

Abstract:

An extended fictional work in prose, usually in the form of a story, is known as a novel. The novel provides such a facile and attractive means of popular appeal and is so adaptable to literary fashions, that its continued vitality will surprise no one. It projects the images of life, which in turn reflect the images of feelings and aspirations of an individual, a community, a nation and world at large. The cultural context and the life style of people, their hopes and despairs are mediated in the fictional images. These differ to the extent, according to the life experiences behind them differ. At times, in the history of a nation, there occur revolutions or upheavals of far reaching consequences. Such changing conditions inevitably bring a new outlook and often lead to a new social order. A literary person is as much a product of his society, as his art is a product of his own reaction to life. Even the greatest of artists, is sometimes a conscious, sometimes an unconscious exponent of his time spirit. It is the total outcome of all the political, social, religious and scientific changes of a particular age. The historical aspect of literature therefore, unimportant though it may be for aesthetic purpose, cannot be totally ignored. Most of the eminent literary figures and critics are unanimously of the view that a nation‟s life has its moods of exultation and depression, its epochs of a strong faith and strenuous idealism. They admit that while the manner of expression will vary greatly with the individuality of each writer, the dominant spirit of the hour, whatever that may be, will directly or indirectly reveal itself in his work.The origin of Weldon‟s style might be found, on very practical or materialist level, in her early years as an advertising copy writer. She has stated in an interview published in the Time Literary Supplement, “What experience in advertising gives the writer is sense of power.” 3 This accords well with Weldon‟s sense of purpose. The fact she states, “I quite frequently moved to write, by a sense of outrage and indignation. Otherwise I would not do it in the first place.”4 Almost all Weldon‟s writing possesses this sense of urgency. She comments further in terms of her purpose in writing, “Style seems to me, in the end, a matter of economy, of how to get down rapidly and exactly, with precision, what you wish to s ay. If you have enough to say, you want to get it down as quickly as possible and this is what develops an individual style.”

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