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The Feminist Approach. By: Apurva, Pooja, Jen, Summer, Sarah, Kruti. Phases. Elaine Showalter, leading feminine critic in U.S., came up with these three phases: “Feminine” phase (1840-1880) Women writers imitated the dominant tradition 2. “Feminist” phase (1880-1920)
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The Feminist Approach By: Apurva, Pooja, Jen, Summer, Sarah, Kruti
Phases • Elaine Showalter, leading feminine critic in U.S., came up with these three phases: • “Feminine” phase (1840-1880) • Women writers imitated the dominant tradition 2. “Feminist” phase (1880-1920) • Women advocated rights and protested • “Female” phase (1920-present) • Rediscovery of woman's’ texts and women
Feminist Critics • See the very act of speaking- of having a language- as a focus for studying women writers, so often silenced in the past. • Goal: To promote discovery and reevaluation of literature by women, and to examine social and cultural contexts of literature and literary criticisms.
Feminist Criticism Different models • Biological model • women are more than just bodies. (thoughts and opinions matter too) • Linguistic model • If women continue to speak as men do, whatever they say will be alienated • Psychoanalytic model • Identifies gender difference as the basis of the psyche • Cultural model • Places feminist concerns in social contexts, acknowledging class, racial, national, and historical differences and determinants among women, but offering a collective experience that unites women over time and space- a “binding force.”
Gender studies • The entire concept of the female difference is what caused female oppression • They wish to move beyond “difference” altogether
Marxist Feminism • Focuses on the relation between reading and social realities • Marxist feminists attack the prevailing capitalistic system of the West, which they view as sexually as well as economically exploitative • They direct their attention toward conditions of production of literary texts- economics of publishing and distributing texts • Matter vs. manner of a text
Psychoanalytic Feminism • Practical and not terminology-ridden • French= most innovative and far-reaching of this • English feminist critics (Marxists) stress oppression • French feminist critics (psychoanalytic) stress repression • Reject the idea that art is representational- merely effects of language • Myth- appeals to women because of their identification with nature (women goddesses- Ceres, Medea)
Minority Feminism • Black and lesbian feminists • Their work tends to use irony as a primary literary device to focus on their self-definition- their “coming out”- for they often reject classic literary tradition as oppressive • They accuse other feminist critics of developing their ideas only in reference to white, upper-middle-class women who practice feminism only in order to become a part of the patriarchal power structure. • Women who want to be considered equal to men (equal rights)