Intertextuality and Dialogism in the Feminine Novel: R. West’s The Return of the Soldier (1918) and D. Lessing’s The Golden Notebook (1962).

Abstract

Women’s Writing as a literary discipline emerged in the light of the development of feminism. In the early beginnings women writers were following the traces of male literature, since it was hard to find writings done by women in the middle ages or before the Victorian era. The rise of the novel coincides with the appearance of women’s writing, which made the novel the main literary genre adopted by women writers. As a first part, this research work deals directly with the different generations of women’s writing. Then, it delves into the literary discourse analysis of The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West and The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. It primarily examines Intertextuality and Dialogism as literary techniques in the feminine novel. Afterwards it highlights the position of the woman through the early and the mid nineteenth century, since there was a huge change in the social, political and economic life of women in this century