Feminist-literary-theory-a-reader-by-mary-eagleton.pdf

Feminist Literary Theory: A Reader by Mary Eagleton

››› Download audio book. ‹‹‹ Original Title: Feminist Literary Theory ISBN: 0631197346 ISBN13: 9780631197348 Autor: Mary Eagleton Rating: 3 of 5 stars (1933) counts Original Format: Paperback, 464 pages Download Format: PDF, RTF, ePub, CHM, MP3. Published: January 30th 1996 / by Wiley-Blackwell / (first published September 28th 1986) Language: English Genre(s): Feminism- 14 users Nonfiction- 6 users Philosophy >Theory- 3 users Criticism >Literary Criticism- 2 users

Description: Radically revised and expanded from its original format, this second edition covers new material on Black feminisms, and the impact of post-modernism on feminism. It is the perfect introduction to feminist literary theory today.

About Author: Other Editions:

- Feminist Literary Theory: A Reader (Paperback)

- Feminist Literary Theory (Paperback)

- Feminist Literary Theory: A Reader (Hardcover)

Books By Author:

- A Concise Companion to Feminist Theory

- Feminist Literary Criticism

- Figuring the Woman Author in Contemporary Fiction: Since 1970

- Working with Feminist Criticism

- Attitudes to class in the English novel: from Walter Scott to David Storey.

Books In The Series: Related Books On Our Site:

- Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader

- A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists From Brontë to Lessing

- Homos

- What Is an Apparatus? and Other Essays

- Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism: A Norton Reader

- A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory

- Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology

- Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory

- Secrets Beyond the Door: The Story of Bluebeard and His Wives

- The Function of Criticism

- Fearless Confessions: A Writer's Guide to Memoir

- Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews

- What Ever Happened to Modernism?

- The Romantic Revolution

- National Treasure: Nicolas Cage

- Epistemology of the Closet

- Colonialism/Postcolonialism

- The Second Wave: A Reader in Feminist Theory

Rewiews:

Aug 30, 2014 Mark Bowles Rated it: it was amazing A. Introduction 1. This book attempts to understand feminist literary theory since 1970 (The year when Millet’s Sexual Politics was published). FLC is pluralistic, there is no one defining method or belief. But, this is a good thing because FLC draws on many theoretical positions (Marx, Foucault, Kristeva, Derrida, Freud) and diversity fuels further debate. This ongoing debate is captured in this book by presenting a series of dialogues between two authors. 2. The debate between Feminism and crit A. Introduction 1. This book attempts to understand feminist literary theory since 1970 (The year when Millet’s Sexual Politics was published). FLC is pluralistic, there is no one defining method or belief. But, this is a good thing because FLC draws on many theoretical positions (Marx, Foucault, Kristeva, Derrida, Freud) and diversity fuels further debate. This ongoing debate is captured in this book by presenting a series of dialogues between two authors. 2. The debate between Feminism and critical theory. Some feminists see theory as a male practice and something to avoid. To them theory is impersonal, objective and male while the study of experience is personal, subjective and female. However, other feminists adopt Marxist, poststructurlaist, and psychoanalytical theories because they claim that you can never be outside of theory. It is utopian they believe to look for a experiential, non-theoretical space. 3. Woolf/Showalter/Moi. This debate between the pro and anti theorists provides a way to understand the debate over Woolf by Showalter and Moi. Showalter takes more the antitheoretical stance. 4. Anglo-American feminism (Showalter)/French feminism (Moi). a) Anglo-American criticism has concerned itself with the differences of women’s writing, finding a tradition of women authors, and exploring women’s culture. ‘Gynocriticism’ defines this approach. The gynocritic explores female authors and the understanding of a female identity or experience in

their characters. The author/character/and reader unite to explore this experience. They define ‘women’ as real biological entities who are forming a politics based upon shared experience. ‘Feminine’ means a cultural tradition. b) French theory refutes all of these points and suggests a new term, ‘gynesis.’ This is the understanding of the process by which ‘women’ and the ‘feminine’ are discovered and articulated. French theorists explore women not as a person, but as a ‘writing-effect.’ The écriture féminine is a woman as an effect and not an origin and asserts not the sexuality of the text but the textuality of the sex. Gender difference is socially constructed. ‘Feminine’ means a cultural stereotype by which the patriarchy tells the woman what is natural. This approach is not particularly interested in women authors or women’s history. The author is dead, long live the text and reader. B. Elaine Showalter, “A literature of their own” 1. The debate. Where Showalter detects flaws, Moi discovers qualities. What Showalter see as an avoidance of political commitment, Moi sees as a potential for revolutionary practice. While Showalter believes Woolf’s use of multiple personae represents a refusal to stand up and be counted, Moi sees as a way to undermine the unitary self. 2. Woolf’s argument for androgyny. Woolfe argues for androgyny because a woman’s feelings are too hot to handle for friends and family. The room would not liberate women from what others would say, but would encourage them to forget their grievances. Also, a creative mind has to be both masculine and feminine. 3. Two key criticisms. First, Showalter argues that Woolf’s androgynous ideal escapist (a way of avoiding confrontation with her family, critics, readers, and class). If you are androgynous you cannot confront your maleness or femaleness. Second, Woolf’s “A room of one’s own” is a sign of Woolf’s retreat from the material world and psychosexual dilemmas. The room becomes both a sanctuary and a prison. This is an “impersonal” and “defensive” book. The word “one” in the title depersonalizes and desexes the subject. C. Toril Moi, “Sexual/Textual politics” 1. This book was a survey of developments in feminist literary theory from Kate Millett to the present. The book is broken into two parts: the first deal with Anglo-American criticism; the second with French feminist theory. This represents her belief that French feminism is more theoretical while Anglo-American feminism is better at practical criticism. This essay uses Woolf as a test case for the success or failure of different modes of analysis. She argues that the Anglo-American criticism, exemplified by Showalter, is inadequate compared with French readings (Derrida and Kristeva) of Woolf. The main point of this essay is to illuminate the relationship between feminist critical readings and the often unconscious theoretical and political assumptions that inform them. 2. Showalter on Woolf. Showalter’s theoretical position is never made clear in her discussions on Woolf. She does believe that a text should reflect a writers experience and she argues that this is where Woolf fails. The political position which follows from this is Bourgeois Realism. Realism was the key to the value of a text. This follows Marxist critic Georg Lukacs. Showlater attacks the multiple, pluralistic viewpoints of Woolf. But, what Showalter fails to understand is that this unified view represents patriarchal ideology. 3. Moi ‘rescues’ Woolf. It is important to rescue Woolf because of her literary genius and her commitment to other women authors. Moi argues that a different theoretical position is what is

needed. Woolf herself practices a ‘deconstructive’ form of writing in that language cannot be pinned down to one ultimate meaning. It is these shifts in form, changes of perspective, character, and meaning that can be understood by Derrida’s deconstruction. Woolf’s concept of androgyny can be seen as the third and culminating stage of Kristeva’s feminist political struggle. a) Women demand equal access to the symbolic order. Liberal feminism. Equality. b) Women reject the male symbolic order in the name of difference. Radical feminism. c) Women reject the dichotomy between masculine and feminine. This dichotomy is a metaphysical construction. This is Kristeva’s position and fits in well with Woolf’s views on androgyny. 4 likes