Feminism in Literature Essay

womens liberation movement has gradu entirely in ally become much(prenominal) far-ranging and sagacious in its flesh outs on masculine-dominated society. M each in righteousices quiet need to be improveed, but as necessary is a more down-to-earth, unbigoted and compassionate view of fellow serviceman beings. Introduction M all womens rightists dislike theory. tart intellectual categories, argumentation, seeming objectivity, and the whole tradition they grow out of be just what libbers atomic number 18 seeking to escape.And if their reasoning seems disorganized they can draw support from the analysis of Lacan and Julia Kristeva, fromDerridas deconstruction, and from Rortys view that ism should model itself on an edifying communion seeking rapprochement rather than no-holds-barred gladiatorial combat. Androgynist Poetics Critics, being by and large virile, had non generally concerned themselves with chargeuality issues. Most of the originations great lite rary works had been indite by men. Sappho, Austen, the Brontes and Emily Dickinson apart, it was difficult to think women genuinely had it in them to write at the highest level.lit was belles-lettres, and critics saw no need to fill out a specifically feminine port of create verbally or responding to a text. Virginia Woolf was herself a refutation of that thesis, though her mental division was perchance brought on by the job of balancing male self-realization with distaff abnegation. just now in her essay Professions for Women, Woolf complained merely that womens social obligations hindered a writing c arer. Their lives gave them a different perspective, but women were not fundamentally different from men in their psychological needs and out tone of voices. GynocriticismThe gathering womens liberationist movement very more disagreed, and argued that womens writing expressed a distinctive charrhoodish consciousness, which was more discursive and alignment than i ts male counterpart. Such consciousness was radically different, and had been adversely treated. Simone de Beauvoir in The Second knowledgeable activity documented the ways Legislators, priests, philosophers, writers and scientists adjudge striven to study that the subordinate position of women is allow fored in promised land and advantageous on earth. Women had been do to discoer that they were inferior by nature and, though men paid lip-service to equality, they would resist its implementation. round men might be kind-hearted to womens issues, but only when women themselves knew what they felt up and wanted. And perhaps they forever knew. The essays collected in Susan Cornillons 1972 anthology Images of Women in Fiction all suggested that nineteenth and twentieth century parable was simply untrue to womens experience. quite than search for the essentially feminine, critics now dark to the social context of womens writing, to the ways a male-orientated society had formed or deformed individual novels, plays and poems written by women.Adventure and romance, whoever written for, seemed to focal point the male competitive element, and even the submissive better half of gay lit only imitated the egg-producing(prenominal) stereotype. Not all agreed, of course. Norman Mailers The Prisoner of Sex disliked the c all over criticism of Kate Millets Sexual Politics, universe controversy its examples were too selective chosen. Gynesis Nonetheless, by the wee eighties, libbers had advanced to a much more confrontational attack on male hegemony, advocating a complete overthrow of the dark-skinned (male) canon of lit.French womens liberationists argued that women should write with a greater consciousness of their bodies, which would create a more honest and appropriate behavior of openness, fragmentation and non-linearity. Parallel studies in the ocular arts stressed a feminine sensibility of soft fluid colours, an vehemence on the nearoneal and decorative, and on forms that elicited the female genitalia. And the problem lay deeper still, in the language itself. Words had been coined to express a male point of view, and that was indeed misogynist. or so 220 words exist in face for the sexually promiscuous woman, but only 22 for promiscuous men.And in the sexual matters that really concerned them, the vocabulary was dispiritedly restricted. Discourse was power, said Foucault, and psychoanalysts likeLacan and Kristeva stressed the liberating usance that literature should play, pointly to allow the semiotic flux of the unconscious in proto(prenominal) childhood, i. e. before the symbolic world of public discourse imposed its male-favouring rules. Poets lap uped on the boundaries of the ii realms, and Kristeva urged them to en sex political and feminist revolutions by dissolving the conventions of normal discourse. sexuality conjecture Five years later the debate had moved on, from exclusively feminine concerns to the wider issues of gender in social and cultural contexts. patriarchate and capitalism should be examined more closely, perhaps as Althusser had attempted, and sophisticated models built to blend the larger web of sparings, education, division of labour, biological constraints and cultural assumptions. Michele Barrett demanded facts, research. How does gender stereotyping arise in various social contexts? How are the canons of literary excellence actually established?What is the hardheaded effect on literature? Shouldnt we remember that attitudes are struck at bottom a fictional framework, and cant be simply pulled out and convicted by a kangaroo court of feminist morality? Critique writings will a lottimes reflect the cultural assumptions and attitudes of its period, and that of course includes attitudes towards women their status, their roles, their expectations. But a literature doctored of male-orientated views would be failing in its first requirement, to present a r ealistic or convincing tele deteriorateing of the world.Moralizing, which includes political correctness, has its dangers. Feminists name argued for positive inconsistency as the only way to correct centuries of bias. Nonetheless, the consensus emerging among black Americans is that positive inequality is counter-productive. Disadvantaged minorities desperately need the betting odds levelled, but not patronizingly leaning in their favour. Psychoanalysis has little scientific standing, and Lacanian theory is further disputed at bottom the psychoanalytical community itself.Feminism does itself nearly favours by relying on these supports. A more damaging criticism is the concept of the feminine itself. Does it really exist? There are very real differences in the psychological snitch-up between the sexes, but interrogation also indicates what anthropologists stimulate long authentic the expression of those differences is more determined by cultural factors than sexuality pe r se. Feminists who argue for a more sympathizeing, fluid, and delicate attitude are not so much advocating qualities native-born to women but for attitudes still repressed by society.That in turn suggests society itself needs exploring rather than sex differences per se, which is indeed a view more recognized in contemporary feminist studies. Feminist publications Feminist literature, as the name suggests, is establish on the principles of feminism, and refers to any literary work that centers around the struggle of a woman for equality, and to be asked as a human being, before being cast into a gender stereotype. Not all these works follow a send approach towards this goal of equality. It is only through such(prenominal) media that women believed a change was potential in the way they were perceived in society.Not all feminist literature has been written by women, but also by men who understood women beyond the roles they were expected to fit into, and delved into their psyc he to agnise their needs and desires. Some works may be fictional, while others may be non fictional. Here, we take a look for into the features of feminist literature, and give you a list of some of the many works of feminist literature, that launch for a good read if you real desire to learn extensively rough this form of writing and what it stood for.Characteristics of Feminist Literature Feminist literature is identified by the many feature films of the feminist movement. This will suffice you substantiate exactly what is feminist literature. Authors of feminist literature are known to understand and explain the difference between sex and gender. They believe that though a persons sex is predetermined and natural, it is the gender that has been created by society, along with a particular perception about gender roles. Gender roles, they believe, can be altered over time.The predominance of one gender over the other, is a common concept crossways almost all societies, and the fact that it is not in favor of women is an underlying, yet blatant, characteristic of feminist or womens literature. Here, it is argued that any society that does not provide convey of learning and knowledge to both genders equally is not a complete and naive society. Critics argue that there wasnt much difference between male and female authors, and that there was no need to expose a separate class of literature termed as feminist or look for traces of feminism in literature.However, if you read any such work, you will realize how such writers criticized societys andocentric (male-centered) approach, and tried to understand the beliefs and needs of the opposite sex with a subjective, and not an objective, approach. Take for example Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice. The protagonist, Elizabeth Bennett was a woman of her mind. contempt the societal pressure (put on her by her mother) to choose a partner, and to lead a bread and butter that was persistent for all women, she resolute to choose her own path towards what she wanted.And none of this was blatantly approached. She did not put an outbound fight, in order to choose her life course. The entire piece of work is subtle, and the only clear characteristic of the protagonist you will notice is her assertiveness. And that is one clear characteristic of the feminist approach toward literature. Women in literature of the feminist nature are always featured as the protagonist, who, more often than not, do not readily accept the traditional role of women as decided by society.They are ready to make their own determinations, to express this choice of individualised decision-making, and are ready to deal with the consequences of these choices, actions, and decisions. though a daughter, a mother, a sister, or a wife, any piece of feminist literature first deals with a woman as a woman. It is not these relationships, roles, or stereotypes that give these female characters in literature their identity . Their identity is defined by their choices and their beliefs which are then associated with these roles.It is primal to note, that, not all works of feminist literature have happy endings, both for the character, and for the author of the work. Women have been ostracized by society for openly demanding equality, and have had to face several negative consequences of their decision to go against the waves. Not only feminist literature, women have been treated as important subjects even in many literary works by men. For instance, Henrik Ibsen, a Norse author and playwright, often focused on women, womens issues, their troubles faced by society, and the decisions they made based on their personal determine and beliefs.If you take a look at the play called A Dolls House, by this very similar author, you will clearly notice the effect and character of the protagonist. Not all, but some pieces of feminist literature (particularly non-fiction) showcase and stress on womens suffrage and a demand for equality in society, for political, social, and economic rights. In modern feminist literature, the attack on a male-dominated society became more forthright and straightforward, where women demanded a closer look into the patriarchal and capitalistic approach towards feminism.