Deradicalising the feminine : the evolution of Rachel Cusk’s autobiographical voice

Abstract

This dissertation aims to address the lack of critical investment in the works of Rachel Cusk, especially with regard to her contributions to the maternal counter-canon, and her overarching interest in the representation of a feminine lived experience. By analysing Cusk‘s themes on a multi-generic level – the memoir, autofiction, and a novel based on a memoir – this dissertation attempts to trace the evolution of Cusk‘s autobiographical voice. The first chapter grounds itself in Cusk‘s main concern with the portrayal of a truth anchored in her own subjective experience. The visceral reaction to her memoirs triggers a chain reaction that results in a shift in Cusk‘s writing voice, leading to a dual desire to project her truth whilst also saving herself from the exposure that occurs when a woman writes in the 'I‘. The second chapter goes into Cusk‘s first transition, as she mobilises the genre of autofiction in order to create distance between her authorial self and the narrator, which is done through a polyphony of characters who share their experiences with Faye, the decentralised 'central‘ character. These experiences are in line with the concerns and themes portrayed in the memoirs, highlighting the fact that Cusk is now given the agency to disseminate her own concerns through the voice of other characters. The last chapter features an in-depth analysis of Cusk‘s latest novel Second Place, where her survival strategy reaches its zenith through a work that is based on a memoir by Mabel Dodge Luhan. Through her depiction of maternity as an artistic endeavour, Cusk reconciles her dual nature as a mother and an artist, two facets which she had believed to be incompatible.