Popular/post-feminism and popular literature

This thesis is concerned with the ambivalence expressed towards feminism by many \nwomen in the last decade and identifies post-feminism as a problematic through which \nto explore this in contemporary women's writing. It focuses on selected fictional and \nnon-fictional texts of the 1980s and 1990s and examines the ways in which they \nengage with feminist concerns. \nUntil now, post-feminism has not been studied through its articulations in popular \nliterature. To do justice to the wide range of views held by women and avoid a \ndefensive and pessimistic reading of commercialised mainstream culture, I have made \nuse of intertextual readings. The methodology is derived from feminist critical theory \nand cultural studies in order to address the relation between feminist and non-feminist \nliterary texts and the dynamic interchange between what have been labelled as \nfeminist politics and mainstream or consumer women' s interests. The significance of \nthe research lies in the identification of ways in which such works of fiction and nonfiction \nprovide an outlet for women's voices which could serve as a basis for \ndeveloping feminist criticism and politics. \nThe thesis is divided into three chapters, the different themes of which illustrate \npost-feminist concerns. In the first, I address the literature of popular therapy by \nwomen. The second chapter focuses on contemporary fictional and non-fictional \nwritings by women on sex. The final chapter examines women' s relationship to \ntransgression through genres of crime writing. I have found that popular literary \nforms used by women may offer a progressive and complex reading of post-feminism. \nI conclude that post-feminism has drawn on popular elements of feminism and that, at \nthe beginning of the 1990s, one may identify a reincorporation of feminism into postfeminism.