FEMALE SUBJECTIVITY AND THE CRISIS OF THE "MODERN SELF" IN ENGLISH PROSE: THE FRAGMENTATION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY

Abstract

This article examines how female subjectivity was formed in 20th–21st century English prose, against what aesthetic and philosophical processes it changed, and how it intersected with the crisis of the “modern self.” The study shows that the image of modern woman is presented not only as a product of social roles, but also as an act of self-understanding, confronting internal divisions, and rebuilding identity. Starting from the modernist period, stream of consciousness, fragmented time, and introspective narrative have become key artistic techniques in English prose to reveal the complex layers of female psychology. Writers such as Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield create conditions for the rewriting of subjectivity by bringing to the fore the deep psychological layers of the female self, while Doris Lessing and Angela Carter critique ideological, social, and mythical structures. In the postmodern era, authors such as Zadie Smith present identity as a multicultural, race-gender intersectional, and socially variable process. The article concludes by showing that the crisis of the “modern self” becomes a space of creative transformation for female subjectivity, rather than destructive; Female identity is characterized by continuous renewal and self-transcendence, rather than stability.