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Article: Intervening in a male-dominated field: 'The River Ophelia', the Brat Pack and social realism.(The River Ophelia: Four Views)
- Article from:
- Hecate
- Article date:
- October 1, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Hecate Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Despite the way The River Ophelia has been written about by the dominant reading group, it was not my intention to write or to author it as a social realist novel. But before I go on to suggest a possible reading of my book that presents it as an anti-realist text, I'll explain what I mean by social realism and by dominant reading group.
A novel is social realist if it has full, rounded characters and linear narrative. In addition, social realist novels try to erase all traces of the writing process from the finished product. Finally, the other main characteristic is that the world that is depicted in the social realist novel should conform to the real world and ...