Their Own Worst Enemies

Daphne Watson investigates how women are constructed as subjects by popular women writers, and, given their popularity, what this reveals about women's expectations and needs in terms of fiction. The genres covered are traditional romance (including Daphne du Maurier and Mary Stewart), 20th century crime-writing (from Dorothy L. Sayers to P.D. James), the modern novel of manners (Anita Brookner and Barbara Pym), Science Fantasy, Mills and Boon and the "role reversing" blockbuster exemplified by Jackie Collins and Sally Beauman. Watson finds that this very varied range of writers and audiences continues to produce and accept versions of the stereotype of "heroine as victim" and concludes that they are indeed "their own worst enemies".