FEMALE CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE SELECT NOVELS OF LESLEY

LOKKO

A SYNOPSIS OF THE PROPOSED STUDY

SUBMITTED TO

SHIVAJI UNIVERSITY, KOLHAPUR

FOR THE DEGREE OF

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

IN

ENGLISH

UNDER THE FACULTY OF

HUMANITIES

BY

MISS. S.S.INAMDAR

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

DR. S.R.SAWANT

M.A, M.Phil., Ph.D.

Associate Professor, &

Head,

Department of English,

Sadguru Gadge Maharaj College, Karad

SHIVAJI UNIVERSITY,

KOLHAPUR-416004(INDIA)

JANUARY 2019
Introduction:

Women are the foundation of the world. Yet they are struggling to make their own
identity. Women have been facing social obstacles right from the beginning of the history. They
suffered and are suffering humiliation and suppression in every aspect of their life. They have
been leading the life of confinement by the so called social restrictions, norms and regulations.
The sacrificial role of women still continues even in this 21st century, though we claim equality
for masculine and feminine genders. The cases of sexual harassment and domestic abuse of
women highlight the fact that even basic human rights were denied to them. In terms of mental
health and education empowerment they are always ignored. The feminism is an ideology which
seeks not only to understand the world of women but to change it to the advantage of women.

The study highlights a specific view about female consciousness in the select novels of
Lesley Lokko and in general. The literary meaning of female consciousness is the belief and
objective that women should have the same opportunities and rights as men and struggle to
achieve these objectives. The female consciousness also stands for the strong awareness of
women identity and interest in female problems. English writers have explored the various types
of female consciousness in English literature such as self-consciousness, gender consciousness,
class consciousness, social consciousness, identification consciousness, culture consciousness.
Thus female consciousness wants equal rights and opportunities for women as a social
movement.
Life and Work of Lesley Lokko:
Lesley Naa Lokko is a Ghanaian Scottish architect, academician and a novelist. Lesley
lokko was born in Dundee, the daughter of a Ghanaian surgeon and a Scottish Jewish mother and
grew up in Ghana and Scotland. She graduated from the Bartett School of architecture university
college London with a B.Sc. (Arch) in 1992 and MArch in 1995 and went on earn a PhD in
Architecture from the University of London in 2007. She did rather a lot of things before
becoming a writer. It took seven years to become an architect for Lesley but she changed her
mind and she is a full time writer now for nearly ten years. Lesley Lokkos novels deal with the
problems of women; hence she has been termed as a feminist author who expresses a deep
concern for the women.

Novels:
Sundowners (2004)
Saffron Skies (2005)
Bitter Chocolate (2008)
Rich Girl Poor Girl (2009)
One Secret Summer (2010)
A Private Affaire (2011)
An Absolute Deception (2012)
Little White Lies (2014)
In love and war (2014)

Aim of the study:

The present study aims at analyzing the female consciousness in the select novels of
Lesley Lokko.

Objectives of the study:

• To study and explore female consciousness in the select novels of Lesley Lokko.
• To analyze the contribution of Lesley Lokko to English literature.
Hypothesis:

The select novels of Lesley Lokko reveal the female consciousness and focus on
marginalization, oppression, exploitation and misery of woman.

Review of Relevant Literature:

The observations about the works of Lesley Lokko are in the form of critical essays,
magazines, book reviews and interviews.eg. African perspective (South) Africa city, society,
space, literature and architecture by A. Grafland, Dark space, Architecture, Representation Black
identity by Mari O Gooden, Calm My Blood Race difference form by LNN Lokko Artifice 1996
etc.

Lesley Lokko is a popular writer as for as her writing is concerned, so many interviews
and magazine articles are available but no research as such is attempted yet. In fact, much
attention has not been paid by the researchers to the contribution of Lesley Lokko on female
consciousness.

Significance of the topic:

Female consciousness is one of the most important literary movements. The researcher
attempts to study the selected novels of early twenty first century Scottish novels. The selected
novels are not ever studied according to the perspective taken. Hence, the researcher intends to
deal with the female consciousness in the novels of Lesley Lokko.

Scope and limitations of the study:

Present work will be confined to select novels of Lesley Lokko. Only the novels will be
considered for the study, non- fiction work will not come under the purview of the study.

Research Methodology:

Descriptive, Textual analysis, Analytical, Evaluative and Interpretative methods will be

used for the study.
Tentative chapter scheme:

The following is a tentative chapter scheme of the proposed study

Chapter I: Introduction

A. Brief biographical sketch of Lesley Lokko.

B. Influences in the making of Lesley Lokko.
C. Significance and objectives of the study.
D. Review of relevant literature.

Chapter II: Theoretical Framework: Female Consciousness

Chapter III: Female subjugation and marginalization in Sundowners, Saffron Skies, Bitter
Chocolate

Chapter IV: Female struggle for identity and individuality in Rich Girl Poor Girl, One
Secret Summer, Private Affaire

Chapter V: Reflection of female empowerment in An Absolute Deception, Little White

Lies

Chapter VI: Conclusion

The last chapter will be followed by select bibliography.

Bibliography:

Primary Sources:

Lokko, Lesley. Sundowners. Orion, 2009.

Lokko, Lesley. Saffron Skies. Marthin Griffin 1ed, 2009.

Lokko, Lesley. Bitter Chocolate. Orion, 2008.

Lokko, Lesley. Rich Girl Poor Girl. Orion, 2009.

Lokko, Lesley. One Secret Summer. Orion, 2010.

Lokko, Lesley. A Private Affair. Orion, 2011.

Lokko, Lesley. An Absolute Deception. Orion, 2012.

Lokko, Lesley. Little White Lies. Orion, 2014.

Secondary sources:

Bhatnagar, A.K: Kamal Markandya. A Themantic Study New Delhi: Sorup and Sons, 1995.

Chatterjee, Arundhati: “Rukmani: the mating figure in Nectar in a Silve” in Indian fiction in
English.ed. G.S Balaram Gupta Gulbarga: JJWE Publication, 1987.

A.U. Feminism in Mahashweta Devi’s selected stories, National Journal on Advances in

Computing and Management, 2010.

Beauviour, Simone. De- The Second Sex. (1949), London: Vintage, 2010 Print.

Judith Batler: Gender Trouble: Feminism and the sub version of identity, New York: Rout
Ledge, 2010 Print.

Jacop’s , Marry.ed. Women and writing about women, London:Crome helm,1997.

Lessing, Doris. The Golden Note Book, New York: Harper perennial modern class, 1099.

SJ, Kaplan. Feminism consciousness in the modern Bartish novel: Shippub info, 1995.
B.W, Jones. Race, Sex and Class: Black female tobacco worker in Durban, North Caroline,
1920-1940, and The Development of female consciousness: JSTOR, 1984.

Bunde, Usha. Culture Nature and Literature Jaipur: Rawat Publication, 2012 Print.

Cuplan Pat. The Cultural Construction of Sexuality. New York: Routhledge, 2006 Print.

Research Student Research Guide

( Safura Inamdar ) ( Dr. S.R. Sawant )