No. 102 (2026): Southern Archive (philological sciences)
Literary theory

FEMALE NARRATIVE VOICE IN CONTEMPORARY WOMEN-CENTRED PROSE

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  • Galyna Yuriivna Tsapro
Galyna Yuriivna Tsapro
Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32999/ksu2663-2691/2026-102-5

Published 2026-04-28

Keywords

  • наративний голос, внутрішня фокалізація, жіночий досвід, популярна література, феміністична наратологія, емоційна праця, повсякденний досвід
  • narrative voice, internal focalisation, female experience, popular literature, feminist narratology, emotional labour, everyday experience
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Abstract

Aim. The aim of the article is to analyse the female narrative voice in contemporary women-centred prose as a key principle of organising the literary discourse of popular fiction. The study seeks to clarify the concept of women-centred prose as an analytical category that cannot be reduced to genre labels such as chick lit or women’s fiction, but is grounded in the dominance of a female perspective in shaping narrative structure, modes of focalisation, and the distribution of semantic emphasis within the text. Methods. The methodological framework of the study combines narratological, discourse-analytical, and feminist approaches. The analysis draws on the examination of narrative voice and internal focalisation, the interpretation of narrative subjectivity, and comparative analysis applied to contemporary Anglophone and Francophone popular prose. The theoretical foundation of the research is based on works in narrative theory, feminist literary criticism, and studies of popular culture. Results. The analysis shows that in women-centred prose the female narrative voice plays a formative role in shaping the logic of narration, the representation of events, and the construction of characters. Such texts are characterised by the prevalence of internal focalisation, a strong focus on everyday experience, emotional states, and practices of care, as well as sustained attention to long-term interpersonal relationships. Narrative dynamics in women-centred prose tend to develop not through climactic events, but through sequences of minor episodes, internal shifts, and moments of reflection that acquire meaning-making significance within the narrative structure. Conclusions. The female narrative voice in contemporary women-centred prose functions as a central mechanism for organising the literary text and representing female experience. This perspective makes it possible to interpret popular prose not merely as a genre-marked phenomenon, but as a discursive space in which issues of subjectivity, emotional labour, vulnerability, and responsibility are articulated and negotiated. Further research may focus on corpus-based analysis of women-centred prose as well as cross-linguistic comparison of narrative strategies.

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