As “subjects” of a sovereign state, there is a social contract that the men and women live by. Since the time of classical thinkers, this contract has been developed through philosophical and literary discourses. Rousseau, Plato, and Hobbes are all celebrated thinkers who have helped institutionalise the dogma of patriarchy by identifying the political positions and social roles of men and women. Rousseau, in his book “Emile,” writes, “After having tried to form the natural man, let us also see, in order not to leave our work incomplete, how the woman is to be formed who suits this man.”
In the Western world of the 19th century, an intense ground of debate regarding the “woman’s question” started emerging. The role of women in the social, sexual, and cultural world began to be defined and re-defined in which many took part. The waves of feminism as an ideology were not still in prominence, but the undercurrents were brewing in the world of literature. Many women, identified or not, became huge contributors in the field of fiction and non-fiction, but the subtle forces of patriarchy still hailed men as the liberators of women. Gazing at literature and feminism is hence intricate in the sense that the two are enormously subjective and have evolved over time.
The identity of a woman writer: Who are they?
In literature, there has and still is a conception that the words of a woman would not be taken seriously by the audience. In the 18th and 19th centuries, especially, women authors were not celebrated and, often times, disdained by society. Many of their ideas were said to be anti-feminine and hence bad. Many remained unpublished, and targeted few investigations led to the discovery of a lot more works that got published posthumously. Back then, it was a common practice to use a pseudonym so as to maintain anonymity.
Jane Austen used the pseudonym “A Lady” to put out her books while concealing her identity, while at the same time making sure the world knew she was a woman. Emily Dickinson was an American poet from a conservative family who could only publish around 10 poems in her lifetime, and after her death, a collection of more than a thousand poems was found. Coming to the 21st century, Joanne Rowling published Harry Potter under the name J. K. Rowling only because her publisher felt that the name would be appealing to the young boys as they would take her to be a guy. That is, mostly, it is not the ideas that matter but where it comes from. A white over a black. The west over the east. One man over many women.
Relation between the art and the artist: When morality is at stake
How is art being loved? To what extent is it independent from the artist? Especially in the case of the “woman’s question?” Upon reading “I know why the caged bird sings” by Angelou or “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen, there is an empathy felt towards the artist and their social situation. Because, fiction or not, a human hand at work will always be historical, always be subjective. But coming to an author like Simone de Beauvoir, who authored “The Second Sex,” driving the second wave of feminism in the West, it is uncomfortable to know that she also has a controversial personal life, with many accusing her of sexually abusing her female students.
Or taking “Anna Karenina,” the heroine of Tolstoy who inspired generations, is also coming from an author who was not pro-feminist in his social and personal stand. In that position, the art is left to the world to love while the artists may take a back seat. The inspirations of women in literature sometimes come through men and women who are not morally celebrated. But their characters and discourses are here to stay and may even act against them, poking at their conscience.
Faux feminism in literature: Selling women as a commodity
The current best-sellers of contemporary fiction in the Indian markets often include authors like Taylor Jenkins Reid, Haruki Murakami, and Chetan Bhagat, to name a few. But the problem with many is that they sell feminism largely through a male gaze, appealing to the target audience. In the novels of Murakami, it is very common to see a hypersexualised and objectified woman in the fantasies of his male protagonists.
The female characters of Chetan Bhagat’s novels like “Half Girlfriend” and “Five Point Someone” will all be highly educated, upper caste, and “free-willed,” but the descriptions of the sex scenes merely reduce the women to objects of romance. Similar is the case of the novel “Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo,” authored by a woman, Taylor Jenkins Reid, which gained popularity as a lesbian romance novel. There was also, the same pattern of hypersexualised women jumping at each other at every moment that was orchestrated. Coming from a female author, it is seen that the male gaze of character portrayal is not limited to men. When art reaches the market, it becomes a commodity.
In order to attract the commodity of feminism, homosexuality, as well as educated and ‘open-minded‘ women who are always open to sex and emotional slavery at the wink of a male protagonist, all get labelled and sold as feminism.
In between lines: Feminism and reading beyond the male gaze
Art does not always depict patriarchy by single-handedly blaming a culprit. Because only ten fingers can be pointed, and often times, the watchdogs of patriarchy outnumber. In a book like “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Marquez, winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1982, the story of a civilisation is portrayed through patriarchs and their women. The female characters are hypersexualised, along with the portrayal of incestuous sex and rape scenes. However, the gaze here is intended to portray the disgust and cruelty with which these kinds of horrors keep on happening in a civilisation. The politics of language and the book as a whole shed light between the lines so as to interpret the work politically.
Similar is the case with Anna Karenina, the magnum opus of Tolstoy, sometimes misinterpreted as a misogynistic work. It begins with the words “Vengeance is mine; I shall repay.” Breaking away from the issues presented in the works of authors like Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters, who mostly highlighted the issues like the rights of women to gain education or the right to choose their own partners, Tolstoy depicted a heroine who broke away from her unhappy marriage, though the means she chose was infidelity.
All along, Anna was not the one at whom that vengeance is directed. The trend in English literature of the mainstream has been that at first, women strived to get the basic rights within the institutions of family and church. Then, passion, be it for career, love life, or freedom, began to free women from the brutal hold of these institutions.
In conclusion, literature in general has been thoroughly androcentric. The focus has not only been a man but a white man. Hence, women and other sexualities, along with other identities of colour, are overlooked in many ways. Even crueller is the fact that all these vulnerable identities reach the market in the ‘woke‘ culture waiting to be sold, without authenticity or feelings. When art becomes a commodity, it is not like the rest. It has the power to blind the consumers to the struggles and histories of humanity. Faux feminism is just one example.
References:
1. Lewis, J. J. (2019, July 14). Rousseau’s Take on Women and Education. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/rousseau-on-women-and-education-3528799 2. Valls-Carol, R., Puigvert, L., Vidu, A., & De Aguileta, G. L. (2022).
2. Presenting Beauvoir as a feminist, neglecting her defense and accusations of pedophilia. Social and Education History. https://doi.org/10.17583/hse.9934
3. Modernist Journals | The Woman Question. (n.d.). https://modjourn.org/essay/the woman
4. Tnn. (2017, June 15). Famous female authors who have used male pseudonyms. The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/photo stories/famous-female-authors-who-have-used-a-male pseudonym/photostory/59157582.cms?picid=59157595
5. Mandelker, B. A. (2004, May 31). Tolstoy and the “Woman question.” Oprah.com. https://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/tolstoy-and-the-woman-question/all
