2。 Literature Review

From the current situation of academic research on British desert island literature, a lot of scholars have been focusing their attention on the study of either a writer’s creative achievement or the text analysis of a work on different theoretical angles。 

As for studies abroad, it is hard to find some to explore British desert island literature as a whole。 And among the three works - Robinson Crusoe, The Coral Island and Lord of the Flies - the author will refer to in the thesis, Lord of the Flies seems to draw the most attention。 Bernard Dick is generally believed to be the first western critic aware of the absence of women in this novel。 In 1987, he found there are only British boys at the age of 6-12 in the novel, the sow the only female figure; and he regarded the process of slaughtering the sow as the act of rape, which triggers the following researches from the feminism perspective。 Then, scholars began to be concerned about the gender discrimination or the male chauvinism in Lord of the Flies, holding the view that Golding thought of women as s dispensable role。 Eve Thompson believed the reason why Golding can’t figure out the fundamental social evils correctly was that he never considered the social status and role of women。 And her objection to male chauvinism indicated her view of feminism。 But she reached this conclusion through the exploration of contemporary British education system and class differences,which was not ample if connected with Golding’s true writing intention。 Besides, Patrick Reilly pointed out that fathers and sons were present in Lord of the Flies while mothers and daughters are not; she, therefore, questioned William Golding’s qualification as a writer。 

Studies at home on some particular desert island literary works started early。 The tempest, Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver’s Travels are traditional research objects among these works, and in recent years, Lord of the Flies has also attracted more and more attention so that plenty of critiques have been published。 However researches that deal with desert island novels as a whole are rare。 

Firstly, there are a few overall studies on British desert island literature from the social and cultural background, like geographical location, historical development and political situations。 For example, a book British Desert Island Literature written by Wei Yingchao in 2001 clearly puts forward the concept of desert island literature。 Based on British historical, political and social conditions, especially the history from the 18th century to the 20th century, it explores desert island literature all round and makes a clear depiction。论文网

Secondly, some critics, viewing desert islands as a stage to reflect human nature, do researches on the exploration of the good and evil of human nature and some other specific field of desert island literature。 For instance, by illustration of the conflicts between human and destiny, human and nature,as well as human and themselves some novels suggest, On Desert Island Literature by Song Qi’an states that desert island literature has witnessed three phases of men: confusion, confidence and reflection, and digs into the theme of human nature。

Thirdly, post-colonial criticism is discussed and applied to analyze the concrete text, Microcosm of Colonization: The Analysis of Robinson Crusoe from the Perspective of Post Colonization by Zhao Yina as a typical sample。

Fourthly, there are also some critiques discussing the aesthetic value from characters and writing techniques such as Zhu Wanze’s The Application of Symbolism in Lord of the Flies。

The research monograph and critiques above all have made some achievements and provide great support for the study on desert island literature in this thesis。 But there is still some space to explore。 So based on the previous studies, the thesis will detailedly analyze focus on the absence of women in British desert island literature。