FEMINISM
examines women in literature
tensions b/w male and female characters/imagery/symbols/language----
tensions? how do they manifest in literature?
text---literary text/cultural productions---
female representation ?
usual representations? how are they problematic?
assigned certain roles---certain ways in which female ch. are represented---
stereotypes---define what it means to be good/bad
gender roles---male/female---social construction
culture/society---patriarchical
mainstream??
Women: margin/other
Center/Margin
equality---both sexes
sex and gender
Three waves of feminism
binary opposition
Patriarchal Binary Thought (Cixous)
women as objects to be looked at (Male gaze, Irigaray)
women's language as different (womanspeak, Irigaray)
Woman as Other (Beauvoir)
Constructing a female framework for analyzing women's writings (gynocriticism, Showalter)
conformimg to prescribed gender roles (Millet, Sexual Politics)
Letting go of the anxiety of authorship (Gilbert and Gubar)
Restoring the literary canon by including female representations (Kolodny)
Freeing women of stereotypical representations (Gilbert and Gubar)
ecriture feminine (Cixous)
The Male Gaze- Laura Mulvey