The Evolution of Feminist Narratives in 20th-Century British Literature: A Comparative Study of Virginia Woolf and Doris Lessing

Abstract

In this paper, the author analyses the shift of feminist discourses in British novels of the twentieth century through the lens of Virginia Woolf and Doris Lessing. This paper seeks to discuss how these authors used these different techniques of narrative- modernist stream of consciousness by Virginia Woolf and post-modern fragmented narrative by Doris Lessing as tools for addressing women’s psychological, political and social oppression. Applying and explaining the Feminist critical analysis, the paper discusses the issues of identity and freedom in Woolf’s writings and oppression of political disappointment in Lessing’s narratives. The paper shows that both the authors contributed greatly to the discourse of feminist literature and impacted the modern feminism by extending the definition of the female authorship and disrupting the gender stereo types. The modernist feminism of Woolf gives primacy to creativity as does, freedom; the post-war feminism of Lessing deals with the bewildering aspects of women’s persona in political and social turmoil. As such, the present work establishes that Woolf and Lessing still remain indispensable to current theories in feminist literary critique, particularly in the ways they theorize gender, freedom, and the politics of self.