The Female Hero's Quest for Identity in Novels by Modern American Women Writers

Around the turn of the century, a new kind of woman - the -female hero- - begins to appear in American literature. This -new woman-, portrayed, in particular, in novels by modern women writers, often realizes herself through an especially close relation to nature (-naturism-), as the use of -nature imagery-, -moments of vision-, and -dreams- discloses. This relation between woman and nature is striking in its ambivalent, progressive-regressive function with regard to the female protagonist's development: there is a continuous tension between this new woman's striving for the -public world- and her regression into the -private sphere-, between her wish for freedom and her need for love. Thus, the -new woman- in her quest for identity becomes a link between the traditional -heroine- and the contemporary female protagonist."