Self-composing women: The kenotic representations of the liberated female characters in Fowles', Mcewan's, and Acroyd's selected postmodern novels

This thesis explores the liberation of female characters in postmodern British fiction, focusing on their detachment from their authors and transcendence beyond traditional narrative structures. Throughout history, women have been subordinated, and literature has long been a field dominated by male voices. However, the postmodern perspective has introduced a more equitable approach to literature. This research aims to examine how the representation of women in literary fiction has evolved by analyzing the depictions of female characters in the works of postmodern male writers. This study explores how postmodernism challenges traditional gender roles and provides a platform for more diverse and complex portrayals of women. The importance of my research is to examine how the new writing and expression techniques developed with kenotic postmodern authors affect the representations of female characters in post-modern British literature and how this innovation finds a literary response. During the completion of the thesis, the relevant theories of specific theorists such as Mikhail Bakhtin and Judith Butler are investigated, and a comprehensive survey is made in this field. This thesis is divided into several key chapters: an introduction to the study and its theoretical framework, an exploration of kenotic authorship, a discussion of postmodernism and its impact on gender representation, and performativity. The findings reveal that postmodern male authors challenge traditional gender roles through narrative innovation, allowing female characters to achieve greater autonomy and complexity. By incorporating concepts such as kenosis, dialogism, polyphony, heteroglossia, carnivalesque, and performativity, these authors create female representations that transcend patriarchal constraints, presenting women as active agents in the construction of their identities. Ultimately, the research demonstrates how postmodern literature redefines gender roles and gives voice to marginalized characters.