ABSTRACT
The ‘narrowing sphere’ is, of course, the sphere of women. Showalter calls the 1920s the ‘awkward age’ of feminism, ‘a period of retreat and postponement’. The divisive point for feminist organisations was where to take their stand on women’s role in society. Hard-core feminists supported the first, stillborn Equal Rights Amendment which was introduced into the House and the Senate in 1923. Caldwell returns to the stereotype of the twenties, the mannish ‘feminist’ women who will take power under socialism, although hers are even more sinister: lesbians. The silence of feminist writers continues to remain elusive, although one may speculate on the reasons. Perhaps the firmest conclusion that can be reached is that the obvious anxiety of many of the conservative writers is a mirror of the unspoken anxiety of many of the silent radicals and reformers, who, if they could not write with optimism, chose not to write at all.
