Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Dimino, Andrea

Keywords

Joan Didion, Feminisms, Women's Liberation Movement

Area of Concentration

English

Abstract

This thesis explores the relationship between several works by novelist, essayist, journalist, screenwriter, and memoirist Joan Didion and some prominent feminist literature. I argue that even though Didion would most likely not consider herself a feminist, and at times condemns aspects of the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1970s, her works of fiction and nonfiction resonate with feminist discourse of her time. Didion most notably highlights problems of gender roles and power in her third novel, A Book of Common Prayer (1977), and engages issues foregrounded in the work of Adrienne Rich. I examine how several of Didion's woman-centered essays, including "Sentimental Journeys" (1990), "The Women's Movement" (1972), "Doris Lessing" (1971), and "Georgia O'Keeffe" (1976), relate to one another and to influential feminist texts and ideas. In addition, this thesis explores the roles that women, specifically Didion, have played in New Journalism and analyzes how personal voice and colloquial language are prominent in both Didion's work and literary critic Jane Tompkins's essay "Me and My Shadow" (1987), which investigates the role of personal and traditionally academic language within scholarly writing.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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