Sara Martín Alegre P08/04540/02135

1.4. The minorities in English Literature: women and
post-colonial writers
Feminism and post-colonialism are two other important issues in post-war
English literature.
1)�Women�writers
are not a novelty in English Literature, nor can it be said
that they have been systematically discriminated against by literary criticism.
Thus, for the influential critic 
F.� R.� Leavis
, Jane Austen and George Eliot
(Mary Anne Evans) are an undeniable part of the Great Tradition in the
English novel. However, the rise of 1960s 
feminism
and successive waves (or
feminisms) have forced post-war female writers in English to take a position
for or against feminism, especially as this has played an important role in
academic literary criticism. Some of the most important female writers, such
as Angela Carter or Fay Weldon, have based their literary careers precisely on
their ambiguity concerning feminism.
2)
Writers born in the ex-colonies of the British Empire –and also writers of
other nationalities within the United Kingdom: Welsh, Scottish, Northern
Irish– have used English to express the experience of colonization. 
New
national� literatures� in� English
have been born in the post-war period,
mainly in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. The work of 
migrant�writers
from
the ex-colonies who now live in Britain (first or second generation, that is,
immigrants or born of migrant parents in Britain) has also forced literary
critics to question the meaning of the adjective 'English' in the phrase 'English
Literature'.
To sum up, there is no denying that the book market for Literature in
Britain is rich and thriving, despite the apocalyptic pessimism of some.
The variety of literary and extra-literary texts –that is, of texts likely to
enter the university syllabus or not– is certainly remarkable. The classics
of the past share the same cultural space with the new products of
post-war literature, whether traditional or experimental. And the new
voices of women (feminist or not) and post-colonial writers have joined
a culture in constant expansion.