Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on early 20th century autobiographical texts by women in which the authors grant insight into supposedly “female” affairs of the private sphere. At the same time private female identities are being publicly reconstructed to fit the agenda of social reform.

Paper long abstract:

Public discourse in late 19th century India was predominantly the domain of male agents who evaluated social issues in reformist societies and journals. Women's ascribed space, on the other hand, was that of the "private", i.e. the family's home, which was in turn closed to the public. Women's selves in public discourse were being constructed by male authors who portrayed them as virtuous and devoted, but also as feeble and easily vulnerable by the dangers and temptations of modern life. By the early 20th century, however, women started to claim a voice - and a space - of their own within public discourse. Many of those early writings by female authors chose the autobiographical mode as the best suited medium of articulating a female perspective. Autobiographical writing seemed to enable the authors to grant first-hand insights into the highly disputed space of the private sphere. This private sphere and the selves of the women inhabiting it were at the same time being reconstructed to fit the public agendas of their authors. The anonymity provided by the public sphere encouraged authors to refute predominant notions of femininity and female agency, to attack social hypocrisy and to propose other forms of social interaction. The autobiographical style catered to both the necessity of investigating profoundly private matters and that of presenting them to a public audience. Female selves were thus publicly remade to grant women access to the presumably masculine sphere of public debate.