Please turn in your Marxist lit crit practice 7 May 2013

Feminist Criticism Background During WWII, women were expected to work in factories, maintain the home front, and manage the household When the war ended, women were then expected to resume previous subservient roles The women’s movement slowly grew as a result of frustration Feminist Criticism was one way that women were able to comment on their social status Two purposes for feminist criticism: 1. Feminist Critique: to analyze works by male authors especially in how they depict women characters 2. Gynocriticism: to study women authors’ writing

Feminist Criticism The original goals of Feminist theory were to analyze how male authors portray women, and to analyze how female authors write by recovering women’s texts A new far-reaching goal has emerged: beyond recovering women’s texts, feminist theory endeavors to recover female cultures Feminist theory insists that female accomplishments are important to note and record Historians typically only record male accomplishments

Feminist Criticism Feminist Approach: Sees the exclusion of women from the literary canon as a political as well as aesthetic act Exposes patriarchal premises and resulting prejudices to promote discovery and re-evaluation of literature by women Examines social, cultural, and psychosexual contexts of literature and criticism Describes how women in texts are constrained in culture and society

Feminist Criticism Advantages Women have been somewhat underrepresented in the traditional canon; a feminist approach to literature helps redress this problem Disadvantages Feminist critics turn literary criticism into a political battlefield and overlook the merits of works they consider “patriarchal” Often too theoretical

Feminist Criticism Checklist of Feminist Critical Questions To what extent does the representation of women (and men) in the work reflect the place and time in which the work was written? How are the relationships between men and women or those between members of the same sex presented in the work? What roles do men and women assume and perform and with what consequences? How are feminine archetypes represented in the work, and what is their function within the story? Does the author present the work from within a predominantly male or female sensibility? Why might this have been done, and with what effects?

Feminist Criticism Practice Read “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” – MY VERSION Write a response (about 1 page) that analyzes “Snow White” as read through a feminist criticism lens. Use the questions on the previous slide Remember that this isn’t about “right” answers – you’re essentially just trying to figure out how a feminist theorist would understand this story, or what this story “means” from a feminist theorist point of view ALSO remember that you need to have a “so what” – don’t just point out the evidence. You must give warrant to your data! Due next time!