Margaret Drabble's The Millstone: A Feminist Classic Explored

The Millstone: A Groundbreaking Novel

• 📚 Margaret Drabble's third novel, The Millstone, published in 1965, remains in print and is celebrated for its exploration of a young woman's decision to raise her child alone.
• 💡 The novel is considered a feminist classic, with some critics arguing it's a more seminal 1960s feminist novel than Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook.
• 💻 Technically historic, it was the first novel in British publishing history to be set on a computer in 1965.

Rosamund's Journey and Themes

• 🤰 The narrative follows Rosamund Stacey, a Cambridge graduate who becomes pregnant by a third man after a one-night stand and decides to keep the baby.
• 💔 The novel delves into Rosamund's complex emotional reactions to pregnancy, childbirth, and her child's post-natal illness, highlighting how maternity can make a woman "fiercer."
• 🗣️ Drabble's prose is noted for its remarkable voice, characterized by a unique blend of shyness, resistance, and existentialist reflection.
• 💬 The dialogue is praised for its subtle silences and nuances, reflecting a very English, mid-20th-century reticence in communication.

Societal Context and Class

• 🏥 The novel offers a critical perspective on the NHS in the 1960s, portraying a system that could be difficult for women and treating them as objects, though it also provided essential care.
• 🧐 Rosamund's descriptions of other women in the hospital highlight a class consciousness and a feeling of being a stranger, despite sharing their condition.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Drabble's own parents, described as principled Fabians, and Rosamund's background are explored, touching on themes of class, principles, and upbringing.

Drabble's Career and Critical Reception

• 🌟 Margaret Drabble, a prolific novelist, has had a remarkable career, often exploring contemporary life and female experience across decades.
• 🎭 Despite being pigeonholed as a writer of "Hampstead adultery," Drabble's work is far more diverse, encompassing broad societal themes and "condition of England" novels.
• 💬 The novel faced criticism for its perceived lack of thought on the fatherless child or ethical evaluation, being labeled a "special kind of woman's novel," a critique that some find harsh and dated.
• ❤️ The Millstone is also seen as a profound love story between a mother and her child, focusing on Rosamund's developing love and fierce protectiveness.