Emphasis Added: Plots and Plausibilities in Women's Fiction

PMLA ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy K. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Literary History ◽  
Sexual Difference ◽  
Women's Fiction ◽  
Prose Fiction ◽  
Dominant Discourse ◽  
The Past ◽  
Feminist Literary Criticism ◽  
Mill On The Floss ◽  
Women's Novels

Feminist literary criticism over the past decade has raised the important issue of woman's relationship to the production of prose fiction. Central to the inquiry have been both the desire to identify the specificity of such a “corpus” and the reluctance to define it by inherited notions of sexual difference. Reading Mme de Lafayette's La Princesse de Cléves with George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss in the context of this double agenda suggests the possibility of deciphering a female erotics that structures the plots of women's fiction, plots that reject the narrative logic of the dominant discourse. Traditionally, the critical establishment has condemned these plots as implausible and generally assigned women's novels a marginal position in literary history. Perhaps the grounds of that judgment are less aesthetic than ideological.

scholarly journals Reclaiming Histories/Rewriting Destinies: Mrs. Woolf and Orlando in Unearthing the Buried

2019 ◽  
pp. 123-136
Author(s):  
Milica Nenezić
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Stable Structure ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
Literary Expression ◽  
The Past ◽  
Feminist Literary Criticism ◽  
Strange Particles ◽  
The Future ◽  
Structural Theories ◽  
Living Creature

History is usually written by the winners; those who lose retain their own. The extent to which these differ and whether the differences affect the fate of mankind are all issues that require constant rendering and re-examination. The future confidently retains the answers, but do these answers change the circumstances? Can philosophy, feminist literary criticism or post-structural theories obscure the meaning of fiction? We are composed of strange particles that create our being and identity, which does not likely pave the way to our becoming true by solely ‘static’ existence, but by one that unites the past, present and the future. Such particles placed on the platform of literary expression sometimes have the character of a more permanent testimony to history, either written, or tobe-written. One figure, who struggled to raise our awareness and to remind us that the essay can represent a dialogue, that the reader carries special importance and a role in both the creation and reception of artistic skills, yet that language and meaning do not have a stable structure, was Virginia Adeline Stephen Woolf, who was rewriting and reclaiming both individual and common histories. Reflecting on the dilemmas and perplexities of both historical and fictional structural norms in literature, Mrs. Woolf unobtrusively portrayed an androgynous and ever-living creature in her novel Orlando, who seeks, among other feats, to re-evaluate the importance of witnessing and re-examining history

scholarly journals Empowerment of Korean women from a postmodern Practical Theological perspective

2003 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eun Ok Jeong ◽  
Yolanda Dreyer
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Sexual Difference ◽  
Korean Women ◽  
Korean Society ◽  
Feminist Literary Criticism ◽  
Privileged Status ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
Religious Perspectives ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
The Relationship

The aim of the article is to discuss the situation of Korean women from political, social, cultural and religious perspectives in a postmodern context. Postmodernity implies a denial of the “absolute”, including “absolute power” of men over women. Heideggerian thinking rejects the modernistic privileged status of the Cartesian subject. In this article postmodern anti-foundational, anti-totalizing, and demystifying cate-gories are used to critique patriarchy in Korean society and literature in order to analyze social movements and cultural-religious values in Korea. It discusses a representation of sexual difference and values by means of feminist literary criticism. The article consists of a reflection on the relationship between theory and praxis in feminist Practical Theology, Korean women’s experience, the epistemology of post-modernity, and the empowerment of Korean women.

Feminist literary criticism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Sexual Difference ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Feminist Literary Criticism ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Philosophical Texts ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Economic Construction

Feminist literary criticism looks at literature assuming its production from a male-dominated perspective. It re-examines canonical works to show how gender stereotypes are involved in their functioning. It examines (and often rediscovers) works by women for a possible alternative voice. A study of the social suppression and minimalization of women’s literature becomes necessary. These questions emerge: What is sexual difference and how has it been represented? How has the representation of woman relied on a presupposition of inequality between the sexes? Is there a feminine essence, biological or otherwise, that produces ‘women’s writing’? Feminists who believe that a ‘woman’ is culturally or socially constructed look for evidence of that process in literature. The socio-cultural and politico-economic construction of sexual difference is ‘gender.’ A study of the difference between sexual and gender difference can establish alliances with gay and lesbian studies. Feminist criticism sometimes relates to psychoanalysis and/or Marxism, criticizing their masculinism and using their resources. It expands into film/video as well as social-scientific or philosophical texts. Feminists sensitive to racism and imperialism demonstrate the culture-specificity of all of the above.

scholarly journals Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna mniej więcej znana

2018 ◽  
pp. 75-94
Author(s):  
Lucyna Marzec
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Religious Poetry ◽  
The Past ◽  
Feminist Literary Criticism ◽  
History Of ◽  
The New Woman ◽  
History Of Literature ◽  
Government Institution ◽  
Unusual Type

The article is the analysis of the place of Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna in contemporary literary discourse. The author of the article claims – using Pierre Bayard’s theory – that the poetess is known “more or less”: she is remembered as someone who got prizes and recognition but at the same time she is impossible to read nowadays. There is political ambiguity and antiquity in her texts that keep her in the past. Marzec points at four areas of literary studies, where Iłłakowiczówna is still present: 1. Poetics: Iłłakowiczówna uses an original and unusual type of the Polish tonic verse. The author of this article analyses it using tools of psychoanalysis. 2. Religious discourse: Iłłakowicz.wna is interpreted as the author of religious poetry but Marzec argues with such interpretations. 3. Post-dependence studies: Iłłakowiczówna has not been analysed in terms of post-dependence studies yet but she is mentioned in the Polish borderlines discourse. 4. Feminist literary criticism: Iłłakowiczówna used to be studied as the author of androgynous poetry, but Marzec points out other motifs such as miscarriage, infanticide or problems of the new woman, like work at government institution, contestation of vitalism and bureaucracy. The aimof this article is to show that writing of Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna needs to be read in terms of the history of literature which is devoid of evaluation and judging. Such analysis means going back in terms of modern literary studies which have undergone multiple turns that changed the tools accessible to contemporary critics.

scholarly journals Benjamin e uma nova formação a partir de uma nova forma de ensino da História da Literatura / Benjamin and a New Formation Through a New Form of Teaching Literary History

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 183
Author(s):  
Rafael Guimarães Tavares Silva
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Literary Theory ◽  
Literary History ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Critical Position ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Intellectual Production ◽  
History Of Literature

Resumo: Buscando situar o contexto alemão do final do séc. XIX e início do séc. XX, no tocante às práticas de ensino e, mais especificamente, do ensino de literatura, o presente artigo oferece considerações sobre a forma como Walter Benjamin se posiciona nesse debate. Depois de abordar de forma mais geral a produção desse arguto pensador da cultura de seu tempo, a importância fundamental de seu texto História da literatura e ciência da literatura [Literaturgeschichte und Literaturwissenschaft], de 1931, assume o primeiro plano da argumentação e oferece o material para que se sugira a radicalidade do projeto benjaminiano. Detectando uma crise cultural profunda em sua época, o estudioso sugere que um posicionamento crítico, apto a articular o passado e o presente, por meio de um estudo envolvendo História da Literatura e Crítica Literária, seria a única forma de potencializar o estudo das Letras, de modo a converter a Literatura em órganon capaz de atuar diretamente sobre a própria História.Palavras-chave: Walter Benjamin; teoria literária; crítica literária; história literária; educação.Abstract: Seeking to situate the teaching practices and especially literary teaching practices in the German context of the end of the XIXth century and beginning of the XXth, this article offers considerations on how Walter Benjamin takes a position in this debate. After a more general approach to the intellectual production of this argute thinker of his own culture and time, the fundamental importance of his text History of literature and science of literature [Literaturgeschichte und Literaturwissenschaft], from 1931, takes the foreground of the argument and offers material to suggest the radicalness of Benjamin’s project. Detecting a deep cultural crisis in his time, he suggests that a critical position, capable of articulating the past and the present, through a study involving History of Literature and Literary Criticism, would be the only way to strengthen the study of Letters, in order to transform Literature into an organon capable of acting directly on History itself.Keywords: Walter Benjamin; literary theory; literary criticism; literary history; education.

scholarly journals A Woman by Nature? Darren Aronofsky’s mother! as American Ecofeminist Gothic

Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Hauke
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Feature Film ◽  
Gothic Fiction ◽  
American Gothic ◽  
The Past ◽  
Feminist Literary Criticism ◽  
Biblical Symbolism

In this essay, I discuss Darren Aronofsky’s 2017 feature film mother! in the context of an intersectional approach to ecofeminism and the American gothic genre. By exploring the histories of ecofeminism, the significances of the ecogothic, and the Puritan origins of American gothic fiction, I read the movie as a reiteration of both a global ecophobic and an American national narrative, whose biblical symbolism is rooted in the patriarchal logic of Christian theology, American history, female suffering, and environmental crisis. mother! emerges as an example of a distinctly American ecofeminist gothic through its focus on and subversion of the essentialist equation of women and nature as feminized others, by dipping into the archives of feminist literary criticism, and by raising ecocritical awareness of the dangers of climate change across socio-cultural and anthropocentric categories. Situating Aronofsky’s film within traditions of American gothic and ecofeminist literatures from colonial times to the present moment, I show how mother! moves beyond a maternalist fantasy rooted in the past and towards a critique of the androcentric ideologies at the core of the 21st-century Anthropocene.

scholarly journals Translating Woman: Reading the Female through the Male

2002 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Henitiuk
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Sexual Difference ◽  
Woman Writer ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
Feminist Literary Criticism

Abstract Feminist literary criticism has argued that our understanding of literary paradigms, metaphors, and meaning in general is profoundly affected by the gender of both author and audience. Critics of this school posit that a woman's experience comprises unique perceptions and emotions, and that women and men do not inhabit an identical world, or at the very least do not view it identically, in that sexual difference as a social construct has implications for how one interprets as well as how one is interpreted. This article discusses the nature of the text/reader transaction, and the effect on the dialogue between a woman writer and her audience of mediation by a male critic and translator.

scholarly journals REPRESENTATION OF ISLAMIC FEMINISM IN ABIDAH EL KHALIEQY’S NOVELS

LITERA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-484
Author(s):  
Dipa Nugraha ◽  
Suyitno Suyitno
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Literary History ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Islamic Feminism ◽  
Ecriture Feminine ◽  
Politics Of Difference ◽  
Feminist Literary Criticism ◽  
The Family ◽  
Reform Period ◽  
Female Writers

The Indonesian literary tradition during the reform period was marked by the rise of female writers who raised the issue of feminism. Within the framework of locality and contextuality, the feminism movement echoed by female writers comes in diverse expressions. This study aims to describe the reference figures and issues of Islamic feminism that are represented in novels by Abidah El Khalieqy. This research uses a feminist literary criticism approach. The data sources of the research are three novels by Abidah El Khalieqiy, namely Perempuan Berkalung Sorban, Geni Jora, and Mataraisa. The technique used to gather feminist voices in the three novels is a close reading. The analysis was conducted using a descriptive qualitative method. The results of the study are as follows. First, Islamic feminist figures who were referred to by the feminism movement were Fatima Mernisi and Riffat Hassan. Fatima Mernisi is known as a misogonic hadith critic, while Riffat Hassan uses the hermeneutic principle in the interpretation of the Quran. Second, the issues of feminism represented are: the lives of women in the pesantren tradition, the position of women in the family, the view of normal sexual relations and relationships, and the interpretation of the hadiths and verses of the Qur'an relating to women. Islamic feminism voiced by Abidah El Khalieqy brings its own color compared to the Western feminism movement which refers to the concept of ecriture feminine. Keywords: Islamic Feminism, ecriture feminine, Indonesian literary history, politics of difference, intersectionality REPRESENTASI FEMINISME ISLAM DALAM NOVEL-NOVEL KARYA ABIDAH EL KHALIEQY AbstrakTradisi sastra Indonesia masa reformasi ditandai maraknya penulis perempuan yang mengangkat permasalahan feminisme. Dalam bingkai lokalitas dan kontekstualitas, gerakan feminisme yang digaungkan para penulis perempuan hadir dalam ekspresi yang beragam. Penelitian ini bertujuan mendeskripsikan tokoh rujukan dan persoalan feminisme Islam yang direpresentasikan dalam novel-novel karya Abidah El Khalieqy. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kritik sastra feminis. Sumber data penelitian adalah tiga novel karya Abidah El Khalieqiy, yaitu Perempuan Berkalung Sorban, Geni Jora, dan Mataraisa. Teknik yang dipakai untuk mengumpulkan suara-suara feminisme di dalam ketiga novel adalah pembacaan cermat (close reading). Analisis dilakukan dengan metode deskriptif kualitatif. Hasil penelitian sebagai berikut. Pertama, tokoh feminis Islam yang menjadi rujukan gerakan feminisme adalah Fatima Mernisi dan Riffat Hassan. Fatima Mernisi dikenal dengan kritik hadist misogonis, sedangkan Riffat Hassan dengan prinsip hermeneutika dalam tafsir Alquran. Kedua, persoalan feminisme yang direpresentasikan adalah: kehidupan perempuan dalam tradisi pesantren, kedudukan perempuan dalam keluarga, pandangan terhadap relasi dan hubungan seksual yang normal, dan tafsir terhadap hadist dan ayat Al-quran berkaitan dengan perempuan. Feminisme Islam yang disuarakan Abidah El Khalieqy membawa warna tersendiri dibandingkan dengan gerakan feminisme Barat yang merujuk pada konsep ecriture feminine. Kata kunci: feminisme Islam, ecriture feminine, sejarah sastra Indonesia, politik perbedaan, interseksionalitas.

On the specfics of postcolonial research in the conetmporary Ukrainian literary studies

2019 ◽  
pp. 446-461
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Baydalova
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Science Culture ◽  
The Past ◽  
Modus Vivendi ◽  
Ambivalent Attitude

The postcolonial studies have been under discussion in the Ukrainian historiography, social science, culture studies and literary criticism since 1990 years. They have originated from American, European, and Australian academic studies and became more and more popular in modern Ukrainian culture recently. The nation and the nationalism, Orientalism, multicultural and ambivalent individuality self-presentation, the search of cultural identity, the problem of ambivalent attitude to the past are in the paradigm of postcolonial studies. The problems of national identity, the totalitarian past, the interactions with neighboring countries especially Russia and Poland, the instable Ukrainian society’s condition are analyzed under the postcolonial ideas in the Ukrainian intellectual discourse. The postcolonial theory has become the main interpretative strategy of the Ukrainian researchers lately. Nevertheless, there is no unconditional modus vivendi in the Ukrainian academia about postcolonial conceptions, strategies and principles. One of the most important unsolved issues is the question of correlation of postcolonial and postmodern components of the Ukrainian national literature. The inclusion of the studies of trauma and anticolonial and posttotalitarian discourses into the framework of the postcolonial studies is the most distinguishing feature of postcolonial studies in the Ukraine.

The “Twilight of the Poets” in the Age of Realism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Renker
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Print Culture ◽  
Literary History ◽  
Prose Fiction ◽  
Literary Movement ◽  
The Core ◽  
Multiple Voices ◽  
Institutional Status ◽  
Literary Histories ◽  
Historical Origins

American literary histories of the post-Civil War period typically treat “poetry” and “realism” as oppositional phenomena. The core narrative holds that “realism,” the major literary “movement” of the era, developed apace in prose fiction, while poetry, stuck in a hopelessly idealist late-romantic mode, languished and stagnated in a genteel “twilight of the poets.” This chapter excavates the historical origins of the twilight narrative in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. It shows how this narrative emerged as a function of a particular idealist ideology of poetry that circulated widely in authoritative print-culture sites. The chapter demonstrates that the twilight narrative was only one strain in a complex cultural debate about poetry, a debate that entailed multiple voices and positions that would later fall out of literary history when the twilight narrative achieved institutional status as fact.

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