A Doll’s House of Her Own: Subversion of Patriarchal Structures in Vita Sackville-West’s A Note of Explanation

Abstract

A Note of Explanation is a fairy tale written by Vita Sackville-West for Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House library. It tells the story of the inquisitive spirit inhabiting the miniature house. The paper aims to prove that Vita Sackville-West’s fairy tale relates to patriarchal norms and structures, ultimately destabilising and subverting them. The process takes place on multiple narrative layers: character construction, space and time, and paratexts. The study is divided into three parts, each analysing one narrative level from the feminist perspective. The first part, Character Construction, discusses the feminist interpretation of the ghost and the protagonist’s traits. The second part, Space and Time, examines the spirit’s intrusion into the patriarchal space and her disruption of the traditional (linear) concept of time. In the third part, Paratexts, the title, the author’s biography and the socio-political and literary context of the work are discussed. Encapsulating all patriarchal structures destabilised in the narrative, the analysis reveals the universal dimension of the story, highlighting the role that education and motion—both spatio-temporal and intellectual—play in the pursuit of female freedom.