Date of Award

1998

Document Type

Thesis - ECU Access Only

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Faculty

Faculty of Arts

First Supervisor

Dr Susan Ash

Second Supervisor

Dr Andrew Taylor

Abstract

This thesis consists of two parts. Part One is a novel (The Riddle of Turandot), whose

central character is a fifty-five year-old-woman and Part Two is an essay entitled The Representation of Older Women in Contemporary Fiction.

Feminist theorists argue that it is difficult if not impossible to represent feminine subjectivity within the constraints of a phallocentric language. In my essay I will show that the fictional portrayal of older women is even more problematic in view of ageist attitudes inherent in Western society and directed primarily at women. In fact older women rarely appear in contemporary novels - except as caricatures.

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