The masculine narrator of the female writer: The problematics of narrator in Iris Murdoch's A Severed Head

The patriarchal social structure marginalizes women in social life and devalues them in the face of masculine authority. This subaltern position of women against masculine authority is not only limited to social life but becomes commonplace in the world of literature. While the women in the shadow of the man could not find the opportunity to be an author, they are, on the other hand, projected as a worthless being in the texts dominated by masculine discourse. With the power it draws from feminist theories, feminist narratology supports women writers to create original women's discourse by expressing that women should leave the masculine discourse aside. Iris Murdoch attempts to create a unique discourse with her extraordinary style in her work called A Severed Head. Murdoch, who moves her characters around the extremes of both genders in order to turn the concept of gender upside down, tries to feminize her masculine narrator. Despite this, the point of view of the masculine narrator leads to the devaluation of the female presence in the work by marginalizing the female characters. The masculine narrator of the novel leads Murdoch to fall into the trap of patriarchal discourse, causing female characters to be reflected in accordance with patriarchal norms. This study not only aims to analyze Murdoch's A Severed Head within the framework of a feminist approach but also determine the othering discourse of the masculine narrator in the novel through focusing on the conflicts between the author and the masculine narrator. The aim of this study is to reveal the problematics of narrator created by the masculine narrator of the female writer in the feminist framework.