Gentle Anarchy in the Novels of Ethel Wilson

Abstract

<p>This thesis examines Ethel Wilson's five novels as works that question the organization of twentieth-century, western society, especially as that organization pertains to women. Each novel is dealt with in a separate chapter, and each chapter explores the author's gently anarchic treatment of social attitudes. The family, which is the central unit of organization in our society, is disrupted ·in Wilson's presentation of it. This disruption is the focal point of my discussion. Human commitment has most often been regarded by critics as Wilson's central concern. Wilson, however, is concerned not simply with human commitment, but with female response in the "web" of humankind. She writes stories about women -- their strengths, their weaknesses, their silences. This thesis gives voice to the feminist aspects of Wilson's that, to date, have been kept silent.</p>