Feminist Literary Criticism: Goals & Objectives

Feminist Literary Criticism

• Defined by Lisa Tuttle (1986) as asking "new questions of old texts"
• Goals of feminist criticism:
  • Develop and uncover a female tradition of writing
  • Interpret the symbolism of women's writing from a female perspective
  • Rediscover old texts
  • Analyze women writers and their writings from a female perspective
  • Resist sexism in literature
  • Increase awareness of the sexual politics of language and style

History of Feminist Literary Criticism

• Emerged from the women's movement following World War II
• Concerned with the representation of women in literature and the politics of women's authorship
• Since the 1970s, has taken new routes, including considering gender in terms of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis
• Involves a critique of patriarchy, an ideology that privileges masculine ways of thinking and marginalizes women

Patriarchy and Language

• Patriarchy denigrates or ignores women, including in language usage
• Some critics argue that a masculine style of language has suppressed a feminine one
• A feminine language would be more fluid, less straightforward and logical, and more perceptual
• Examples of feminine language can be seen in the work of authors like Virginia Woolf

Feminist Literary Style

• Some critics explore texts in detail, demonstrating patriarchal patterns or the complex responses of women writers to their own authorial status
• Others insert ignored female writers into the literary canon, studying the literary tradition of women writers
• This criticism often explores what the text hides, such as unquestioning attitudes toward ideologically entrenched ideas about women, making it an example of a "hermeneutics of suspicion"