&lt;b&gt;As heroínas de Michele Roberts e a ação de escrever conscientemente&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;DOI:10.5007/1807-1384.2011v8n2p199

Maria Soraya García-Sánchez

doi:10.5007/1807-1384.2011v8n2p199

Abstract

This article is devoted to describe the fictional evolution of the contemporary Anglo-French writer Michèle Roberts by comparing her novels to one of her more recent books: The Mistressclass (2003). Despite presenting some changes in her narrative style, this feminist author has maintained the presence of women as activists in her fiction. I have focused on how Roberts is inspired by real, canonised or historical female characters in order to create story bound protagonists that express their own conscious voices by means of the modern novel of consciousness. Most of Roberts’s heroines are usually unknown and marginal characters that are positioned at the centre of her narratives in order to rewrite their own stories. The personal story becomes necessarily vital to have access to the general history of women.

Highlights

This article is devoted to describe the fictional evolution of the contemporary AngloFrench writer Michèle Roberts by comparing her novels to one of her more recent books: The Mistressclass (2003)
When I started reading Michèle Roberts, I realised that the idea of rewriting stories was repeated in each work of fiction
The Catholic religion as a dominant and intolerant institution, sex as a repressed expression, and literary creation as manifestation, criticism, and exploration are recurring topics in Roberts‟s novels. This feminist writer has always fought back against oppression, against the Catholic Church and against the patriarchal society, by creating heroines who are liberated from stereotypes and constricted margins (GARCÍA-SÁNCHEZ, “A Conversation with Michèle Roberts”, Journal of International Women’s Studies, 2011, p. 184)

Summary

Introduction

This article is devoted to describe the fictional evolution of the contemporary AngloFrench writer Michèle Roberts by comparing her novels to one of her more recent books: The Mistressclass (2003). Both Charlotte and Vinny in The Mistressclass express their voices and find a room of their own by means of writing, as Virginia Woolf claimed for herself but for all women.4 it may have become traditional nowadays, Roberts insists on Woolf‟s message about the essence of any beginning.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion