BY: Victor Velechovsky, Angie Kape, Ryan Matadin, Amanda Larbie, Niko Caringi
FEMINIST LITERARY CRITICISM is a school of criticism that ..
Focuses on the theory and ideas behind feminism.
Explores the portrayal or condition of women in
literature.
Advocates equal rights for women.
Examines ways in which literature reinforces or
undermines the oppression of women
economically, socially, politically, and
psychologically
Why ?
To promote equality by
ensuring the fair
representation and treatment
of women in texts and
classrooms
Feminist Literary Criticism has had a long and broad history, starting with nineteenthcentury works from authors such as George Eliot and Margaret Fuller. Accord to Lisa
Tuttle, an American science fiction author, feminist criticism is asking “new questions of
old texts”. In other words, since feminist rights are a relatively modern idea, feminist
criticism has the ability to see old works of literature in a completely different light.
This school asks many important questions in a literary work such as the difference between
male and female characters, the characteristics of female heroines, the roles of women, or the
gender stereotypes found in literature in order to study how literary texts present or ignore
women, reinforcing biases or challenging them.
Although feminism mostly focuses on the rights and liberties
of women, many argue that feminism really advocates gender
equality, and therefore the gender roles and discrimination
against men are a required part of feminism.
Well-known feminist critics include:
o
Kate Millet,
o
Elaine Showalter,
o
Susan Gubar,
o
Sandra Gilbert
Bibliography
Romic, Milana. Feminist Literary Criticism. n.d. 08 07 2012
<http://www.cunterview.net/index.php/Theory-Papers/Feminist-literarycriticism.html>.
Toronto, University of. Feminist Criticism. n.d. 08 07 2012
<http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/glossary/Feminist_criticism.html>.
University, Cambridge. Definition of feminism noun from Cambridge Dictionary Online. n.d. 08
07 2012 <http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/feminism>.