| Description |
I did not consciously choose women authors who are feminists, but made a random selection. Several anthologies of women's fiction and poetry have been published in recent years and I chose my three ladies from the biographical sections of a couple of anthologies. All three - Erica, Jong, Sandra Hochman, Constance Urdang - were young and had published poetry - evidence of their literary intent - before a single first novel. The similarities seemed to me to make the three novels - Fear of Flying, Walking Papers, and Natural History - a likely basis for a comparative study. All three novels proved to be autobiographical in nature although fictionalized to a greater or lesser extent, and the three ladies proved to be all Jewish New Yorkers - a coincidence for which I confess I have an explanation to differ. All three novels are feminist in the sense that, as autobiographical fiction, they deal especially with the psychology and physiology of woman. It was of interest to me to study the characters of the women in the novels, to try to determine each author's stance in regard to feminism (in the sense of political, social, and economic equality of the sexes), and finally to judge whether writings stemming from this movement can be called good literature. I should make it clear that I do not consider myself a feminist although I am sympathetic with some of their ideas. I prefer to think of myself as a humanist, which may or may not bias my treatment of these three novels. |
