The idea of Gender in Anita Brookner’s Hotel Du Lac

 

             Feminism as a literary trend attempts to establish a purely feminist tradition that challenges the sort of masculine ‘ writings which have been considered great literature, and which until recently have been written by men for men¹. On behalf of a literature representing the female point of view,concerns and values². In most of masculine writings’ the female characters, when they play any role, are marginal and subordinate, and are represented either as complementary to or in opposition to masculine desires and enterprises ³. In the same line with this, Hotel du lac as a feminist novel represents autonomous female role lodels⁴ . Since it is related from a female perspective, and grapples with female concerns. Moreover, as the title Hotel du lac as a feminist novel’ suggests, the very question at stake in this article will be the manifestation of some aspects of Gender in Anita Brookner’s Hotel du lac to prove that it is a feminist novel. My approach to the novel will mainly be thematic dealing with some prevalent Gender issues ; thus, the projection on Edith as a feminist Writer and her relationship with Harold’s arrogance   .

    As it appears, the reader of this article should bear in mind that Edith  hope, though she performs the role of a novelist, is before all a fictional character in Anita Brookner’s novel, Hotel du lac. The nature of a fiction that Edith is supposed to write will be a theme exhaustively treated in this article. As a matter of fact, one should not confuse Edith hope, who is a fictional writer that exists only in the realm of Hotel du lac as a novel with Anita brookner who is a real novelist, and namely the creator of the fictional work.

In an attempt to convince Edith to shift from writing romantic fiction to deal with sex in her novels. Harold proceeds discussing one of Edith's fictional works. This discussion will not only manifest the materialistic nature of Harold Webb, but will also show Edith's Bloomsburian vision of fiction. This view is put forth by Harold who, unable to argue against Edith's plausible arguments declares that she really does  look remarkably Bloomsburian⁵.  Nevertheless, before embarking on the delineation of Edith's Bloomsburian view of fiction, let us shed light on Harold's materialistic nature which is quite obvious from his sheer ignorance of Edith's fictional work.

 

 What does she take with her on that business trip to Brussels ? 

' Glasgow, ' emended Edith.

 What? OH, well probably .... '⁶

 

The extract above reveals the fact that Harold is unaware of the setting in which the events of Edith's fictional work, discussed in the conversation, take place. In fact, Harold's hesitation when Edith corrects his mistake testifies the fact that he has not read the novel.

 

Indeed, despite Harold's sheer ignorance of Edith's novel, he pursues discussing its events in the hope of persuading her to change her romantic view of fiction. Accordingly, he suggests that the main protagonist, being liberated, ' wants something to flatter her ego when she is spending a lonely night in an hotel"⁷. Obviously, this Something' is a man with whom she will have sex. This insistence from the part of Harold, on the treatment of sex in novels unfolds his name's inner convictions that women are no more than mere objects of sex used, in this case, for male's materialistic purposes. We have now to consider Edith's immediate response to Harold's view, of treating sex in her novel. This can be gleaned from the following extract:

 

It's because they prefer the old myths, when it comes to the crunc* h. They want to believe that they are going to be discovered, looking their best, behind closed doors, just when they thought tha all was lost, by a man who has battled across continents, abandoning whatever he may have had in his in- tray, to reclaim them. *Ah! If only it were true.'⁸

 

Since Harold mentions woman's liberation, Edith seizes the opportunity to give rise to one of the subjects that has preoccupied her mind for a long time which is that of woman's behaviour. Thus, Edith  has treated this question in most of her novels longing for knowing the suitable behaviour for a woman. In the extract above, Edith attempts to convey the idea that the majority of women in the moments of crisis believe' in the old myths'. In fact, women, for Edith, still dream of the day when a handsome man would come riding a white horse to knock at their doors. As far as Edith's is concerned, it is this romantic belief which precludes women from exerting  their full liberty, and ask for men rather than waiting hopefully for their coming one day.

 

 It is worth noting that women's belief in ' the old myths' which prevents them from exerting their liberty, though granted to them, comes as a result of dwelling in a patriarchal society. As is clear from the extract, "the old myths' that women believe in tend to encourage implicitly women's heterosexuality. For some feminist critics, women's heterosexuality in another psychological consequences of growing up under patriarchy, a consequence neither inevitable nor desirable."⁹ 

 

   Edith's account of the importance of myths in women's life could be taken as the first step towards the delineation of Edith's Bloomsburian vision of fiction. Among the myths that Edith regards so influential is' the tortoise and the hare'¹⁰. In fact, the understanding of this particular myth which' people love..... especially women will provide us with a better understanding of Edith's fiction. 

 

       This myth is centred around two fictional animal characters: The tortoise and the hare. As it is obviously known in life, the tortoise is biologically slow- moving; whereas, the hare is well known with his quickness. Yet, in the myth, it is the tortoise who wins the game simply because of the hare's arrogance. Implicitly, this myth, though fictional, attempts to convey one particular moral lesson which is that of showing the effects of arrogance upon the individual on the one hand, and encouraging self- confidence, ambition and hard work as good moral values on the the other. 

 

  In spite of Edith's awareness of the fictionality of this myth which is quite palpable from her assertion that ' the tortoise wins everytime. This is a lie, of course¹¹, she seems to be for the tortoise, and against the hare. The point at which we can arrive is that Edith, supporting the tortoise, longs for virtues, and reacts against the hare who represents bad morals. Obviously, this is what expounds her choice of the modest girl as the main protagonist in her novels and her rejection of the stormy affair girl as an antagonist incarnating evil. In this respect, Edith's fictional works are based upon the two conflicting notions of the good and the evil. And as the following extract confirms, it is the good which wins at the end:

 

 Now you will notice, Harold, that in my books it is the mouse- like unassuming girl who gets the hero, while the scornful temptress with whom he has had a stormy affair retreats baffeld from the fray, never to return. ¹²"

 

Being eager to convince her agent of her own fiction, Edith, sticking firmly to the myth of the tortoise and the hare, points out that her fiction is addressed essentially to the tortoise market¹³, since in life ' Hares have no time to read. They are too busy winning the game¹⁴. According to Edith, it is the ' tortoise who is in need of consolation ¹⁵" because he is unable to win in life. Thus, Edith sees it of her duty to compensate the tortoise for his loss in her own fiction. This implies, actually, that Edith's fiction will have the form of a romance which will ' present life as we would have it be- more picturesque, fantastic, adventurous, or heroic, actuality¹⁶. A case in point of the kind of tortoise that Edith writes for his own mother who, unhappy in her married life, comforted herself, that disappointed woman, by reading love stories, simple romances with happy ending.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography-

 

¹ M.H Abrahams, A Glossary of Literary Terms,(Forth worth : Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1993), p. 235.

 

² ibid

³ ibid

⁴ ibid

⁵ ibid. ,p. 27.

⁶ ibid. P.26.

⁷ ibid.

⁸ ibid.,P.27.

 

⁹ Judith Kegan Gardiner,’’ Mind mother : psychoanalysis and feminism’’, In making a Difference,ed., Gayle greene and Coppelia Kahn, London : Metheun and Co. LTD., 1985) ,p.122.

 

¹⁰Brookner,p.27

¹¹ Ibid.

¹²  Ibid., p.28

¹³ Ibid

¹⁴ Ibid

¹⁵ Ibid

 

¹⁶ M.H Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms,(Forth worth : Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1993), p.174.