Women's postmodern historical fiction: The art of reconstruction (Joan Didion, Susan Sontag, Jayne Anne Phillips)

Through an examination of contemporary historical fiction by women, this dissertation advocates a reconsideration of the nature of the postmodern historical novel. Dominant critical views of this genre are based on male-authored texts and overlook women's versions of the historical novel. My dissertation explores the role contemporary American women authors play in expanding the scope of the postmodern historical novel. I argue that, while post-World-War II historical fiction by women has important characteristics in common with historical fiction written by male authors, women's texts also diverge from the framework established by their male counterparts. The dissertation considers women authors' historical fiction within the context of late twentieth-century novelists' and literary theorists' conceptions of history as a subjective construction and a product of the cultural and political settings in which it is conceived.; My chapters examine how Joan Didion, Susan Sontag, and Jayne Anne Phillips blend elements of postmodern and feminist views, deconstructing traditional formulations of history while simultaneously emphasizing the power of women's political awareness and the possibility of historical change. In Chapter One, I explore Didion's deconstruction of linear historical narratives of progress and apocalypse and her movement beyond these narratives toward a view of history based upon possibility and individual choice. Chapter Two focuses on Sontag's critique of postmodern conceptions of history based upon discontinuity and fragmentation and Sontag's own historical reconstruction, which foregrounds women's political engagement as well as the narrative techniques she believes may promote historical understanding. The third chapter analyzes Phillips's deconstruction of American historical narratives that equate technology with progress and examines her construction of a narrative that balances a postmodern depiction of history as fragmented and chaotic with the power of human connection and advocates the blending of personal commitments with political responsibility.; Taken collectively, these women's texts distinguish themselves from those of male authors of postmodern historical fiction by emphasizing women's capacity for political agency and creating a sense of hope that historical change can occur. Their fiction extends beyond postmodern critique to urge political involvement, and, in so doing, they add a new element of political possibility to the postmodern historical novel.