『息子と恋人』とその時代的背景 : ケイト・ミレットの批判を中心として

概要

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Before D.H.Lawrence began writing Paul Morrel, he had planned to write a biographical novel about his mother whose fictional name was called 'Matilda'. As his mother lay dying on December 6, 1910, however, he discontinued writing his mother's novel and began weaving his mother's life story into his own biographical novel. The final title, Sons and Lovers, was given to the novel as the author veered his initial intention in a different direction. The author's ambition to become a successful writer might have been the cause of the transformation of the subject. As a result the title took on an ambiguity concerning the major role between 'sons' and 'lovers'. Kate Millett, a radical feminist criticized Sons and Lovers as being a male chauvinistic story of a young, ambitious Paul who undermined young women's efforts to be emancipated from the conventional world and took the side of traditional women, like his mother. It is true that the discrepancy between Lawrence's real self and "mother's son" bore a great deal of mis-understandings. On the other hand, Kate Millett's criticism against the author's spokesman displayed not only a striking originality by offering a conflicting women's viewpoint, but also helped focus on the daily lives of ordinary women in which they strove against situations where the strict common law in the novel was not on the side of women's freedom.
2002-03-31