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Introduction
23
andthattheirinfluencecanbeobservedinthewayBritishWomen’sLiberation
Movementwasdepictedbythemediainthe1970sand1980s.Roberts’sbiblical
rewritingsconstructtheirechoingmythsaroundthecriticalexplorationofboth
thebiblicalrepresentationofwomenandthetwentieth-centurydeploymentof
thevirgin-whoremyth.DrawingontherecentstudiesofBritishWLM-the
studieswhichrevealapersistent,thoughnotrosy-eyed,pursuitofcommonality
andsororalideals,Ishowhowfeministsweretryingtocometotermswiththe
complexrealityofdiferences-riddentogethernessandtodemystifytheirown
mythofsisterhood(whichbothessentializedandtrivializedwomen’ssolidarity).
Icontrastthisself-criticalapproachoftheWLMmemberswiththemediacover-
ageoftheWLM,whichcontinuedtorelyonstereotypicalrepresentationsof
women’srelationshipsandtoemploythegood-vs-bad-womanmyth.Itisagainst
thisbackgroundthatIreadMichèleRoberts’stwobiblicalrewritings.TeWild
GirlandTeBookofMrsNoahrelyonanumberofstrategiescharacteristic
ofwomen’srevisionistwriting:thehermeneuticsofsuspicion,hermeneuticsof
remembrance,andhermeneuticsofimagination.Significantly,thenovelsnot
onlycriticallyreflectonbiblicaldiscourseswhichunderminethepossibilityof
women’ssolidarity,butalsoself-consciouslyexploreandimaginativelyexpand
biblicalnarratives,searchingforpositivemodelsandconstructiveimagesof
non-hierarchic,egalitarianandsororalcooperation.Indoingso,Roberts’secho-
ingmythsseektorethinksisterhood,which,asanafrmation(andadream)of
thesolidarityofwomen,wasoneofthefundamentalfeministideasinthe1970s,
aswellasoneofthemostacutelyfeltproblems.Roberts’sechoingmythoffemale
rivalsofersaweak,non-dogmaticvisionofsisterhood,oneinwhichwomen’s
communitygrowsoutofthefragile,flexible,makeshifbonding.Seenfromthe
perspectiveoftheearlytwenty-firstcentury,thisvisionprovestobeanartistic
foreshadowingofthetypeofBritishfeministactivismthatbecamepopularat
thecuspofthenewmillennium.
InChapter3,IdiscusstwonovelswhichrewritetheBibleandwhichsi-
multaneouslyemploymythsrelatedtotheideaofBritishness:TeKingdomof
theWicked(1985)byAnthonyBurgessandBoatingforBeginnersbyJeanette
Winterson(1985).WrittenatatimewhenBritain’sstatusisdefinedbythe
post-imperialsituation,bytheevermoreglobalizedworld,aswellasbythe
Tatcheriteappealtothenostalgiaforlostimperialgreatness,thenovelsaddress
theproblemofBritain’smarginalizationandofitsshrunkenstatus.Onthelevel
oftheplot,bothBurgessandWintersonmakeBritainaperipheral,unimportant
place,existingattheoutskirtsoftheRomanEmpire(Burgess)orofthecivilized
worldinthetimesofNoah(Winterson).Beyondtheliterallevel,however,the
novelsassociateBritainwiththedominantpowersintheirrepresentedworlds,
establishingparallelismseitherbetweentheRomanandtheBritish,orbetween
BritainandNoah’sUroftheChaldees.Temostimportantsimilaritythatthe
twonovelsdrawbetweenBritainofthelateragesandthedominantpowerin
