1. Feminism in Literary Criticism
Prepared by: Minell Peña
Universidad del Este
February 23, 2009

2. Let’s discuss the F word…
Feminism

3. What is Feminism in Literary Criticism?
Feminist criticism focuses on how literature has represented women and relationships between women and men, drawing attention to how women have been marginalized and denied a voice of their own in literature. It also deals with how literature reflects society's ideological assumptions regarding gender and power.

4. Feminist theories are postmodern because they challenge the established premises in literary thought. Some people say there are similarities between feminism and postmodernism but there are also marked differences especially in the way the postmodernist theories locate the cause of women’s oppression (biological determinants, cultural separation, etc.)
Feminist theorists also claim that postmodern theories are de-centered, pragmatic and phallocentric.

5. Key Terms
1. Patriarchy = male domination and limitation of women in society. In
other words, those systems where male dominated structures and social arrangements oppress women.
2. Androgyny=(comes from the term “androgyne”) is a suggestion of a world in which sex roles are not rigidly defined. It is a blurring or a combination of gender roles so that neither masculinity or femininity is dominant.
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6. Key Terms
3. Gynocentrics = the process of constructing “a female framework for analysis of women’s literature in order to develop new models of interpretation based on the study of female experience, rather than to adapt to male models and theories”.
4. Marginalization = refers to being forced to the outskirts of what is considered socially and politically significant; the female voice was traditionally marginalized, or discounted altogether.
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7. Key Terms
5. Phallogocentrism = "language ordered around an absolute word (logos) which is “masculine” [phallic], systematically excludes, disqualifies, denigrates, diminishes, silences the “feminine”.
6. Symbolic vs. Semiotic
* Symbolic = how we normally think of
language (grammar, syntax, logic etc.)
* Semiotic = non-linguistic aspects of language
which express drives and affects.
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8. The Goals of Feminist Literary Criticism
According to Lisa Tuttle, author of the “Encyclopedia of Feminism”, the goals of feminist theories are:
1. to rediscover old texts
2. to interpret symbolism of women's writing so that it will not be lost or ignored by the male point of view
3. to analyze women writers and their writings from a female perspective
4. to resist sexism in literature
5. to increase awareness of the sexual politics of language and style
6. to develop and uncover a female tradition of writing
Tuttle, L. (1986). Encyclopedia of Feminism. Facts on File, Inc.

9. Early Feminist Movements
Early projects in feminist theory included resurrecting women's literature that in many cases had never been considered seriously or had been erased over time.

10. Example:
A relevant example is the case of Charlotte Brontë and her sisters Emily and Anne. When Charlotte wrote Jane Eyre, her most famous book, she used a male pen name or pseudonym (Currer Bell) to escape the prejudice against women novelists. Charlotte’s sisters also used male pseudonyms when they wrote their books but they were not famous during their lifetime.
One of the contributions of feminism as a literary criticism field is the rediscovery or resurrection of many texts written by women who were not taken seriously just because they were written by women.

11. Movies - Examples
Let’s watch the following video and please think of the terms we’ve discussed and how feminism and literary criticism would explain or analyze what you see in the clips.
..\..\..\..\Videos\feminist literature - Google Video.flv

12. Here’s another video with a lighter view on the subject to conclude our discussion today. The following is a short clip from Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006). In this clip Borat makes a group of feminists extremely angry without even knowing it.
Why do you think this happens?
..\..\..\..\Videos\Feminism-Borat.flv

13. Controversy related to feminism
To conclude this presentation I would like to mention a claim made by existentialists regarding feminism. Their question is:
Is there a fundamental feminine nature?
Are women morally superior to men?
What do you think

14. Resources
Baym, N. (1995). The Agony of Feminism: Why Feminist Theory Is Necessary After All. The Emperor ReDressed: Critiquing Critical Theory. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, pp
Retrieved February 6, 2009 from:
Feminism and Gender Studies. Literary Criticsm Databank.
Hamilton Burris, S. (1999). Literary Criticism: An Overview of Approaches.
Holcombe, J. (2007). Feminism in Literature.

15. Siegel, K. Introduction to Modern Literary Theory.
Retrieved February 6, 2009 from:
The Clemson University Feminist Web Page
Tuttle, L. (1986). Encyclopedia of Feminism. Facts on File, Inc. New York, pp
Verba, S. (1997). Feminist Criticism and African Literature. Feminist and Womanist Criticism of African Literature: A Bibliography.
Walzer, J. (2008). The Breakthrough: Feminism and Literary Criticism. Dissent Magazine. Spring 2008.