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Fatalism and feminism in the fiction of Kate Grenville

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 12:41 authored by Roslynn HaynesRoslynn Haynes
Kate Grenville's major fictional works to date represent an extraordinary diversity in tone and form, ranging from the vitriolic short stories of Bearded Ladies, through the neo-Gothic Dreamhouse, the pseudo-autobiographical Lilian's Story to the bicentennial rrietafiction, Joan Makes History. All have a vitality and immediacy that make them among the most accessible of contemporary Australian novels because Grenville writes to explore sociopsychological issues pertinent not only to marginalized groups in her society but to the very structure of that society. Thus the process by which a clever and attractive young woman becomes an obese, eccentric street person of doubtful sanity, foisting herself on public transport passengers, becomes an occasion for difficult questions about the extent to which an allegedly democratic society tolerates the individual. The question of why history should be so exclusively "his story" — a record of men's achievements and men's concerns — becomes not merely an affirmation that women have mattered but an assault on the very methodology and philosophy of the discipline.

History

Publication title

World Literature Written in English

Volume

31

Pagination

60-79

ISSN

0093-1705

Department/School

School of Humanities

Publisher

Routledge

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Rights statement

Copyright 1991 Taylor & Francis

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in language, communication and culture

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