Passport to paradise: the politics of mobility in twentieth-century women's writing

Abstract

In many works by twentieth century women writers, mobility serves as a symbol of agency, creativity or self-transformation. At the same time, these texts often critique or ironise their mobile protagonists, suggesting that their journeys are produced, and made meaningful, by unequal social relations. This thesis analyses narratives and images of mobility in work by Virginia Woolf, Christina Stead, Mavis Gallant and Anita Desai. In so doing, it identifies a literary tradition that is distinctively female and inherently political.