The darkening vision of Margaret Drabble : the decline of optimism in the contemporary British novel
Date
1982
Authors
Shepherd, Nancy Eileen
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Abstract
Many of the contemporary British novels written during the Seventies reflect the dispiriting effects of that decade. In particular, Margaret Drabble's nine novels to date span a period which saw the optimistic anticipation of the early Sixties decline into the weary disillusion of the Seventies. Her early novels are circumscribed by her own experiences, but they do reflect the privileged social circle of her Oxbridge generation. Although her heroines are intelligent and literary, they experience an uneasy guilt over their craving for the glamour and excitement of the early and mid-Sixties. However, by her third novel, The Millstone (1965), Drabble has become more sensitive to the every day realities outside the world of brilliant self-fulfillment.
Her middle novels represent an important stage in her progress. Jerusalem the Golden (1967) is the summation and explosion of her youthful aspirations, it is an unambiguously satirical view of the glamorous life she portrays in the previous novels. The Waterfall (1969) is Drabble's most personal work in which she appears to explore her own marriage in relation to her ambitions as a writer. Her subsequent novels are directed outwards and present an increasingly complex view of contemporary British society. The Needle's Eye (1972) extends beyond the privileged social circle of the previous novels, as Drabble explores the contemporary scene through a variety of social groups. This novel marks her growing awareness of Britain's economic and moral decline. In her three most recent novels, she widens her range still further, but continues to focus on the decaying state of her country and the apprehension which grips that society. However, Drabble is unique in that she moves beyond her increasingly dark portrayal of the contemporary scene to suggest the possibility of moral regeneration through pain and suffering. Throughout her oeuvre, her detailed , realist style achieves a universality, for she captures the changing climate of British society as well as the history of an entire generation.