Feminist literary criticism examines literature through feminist ideas and the politics of gender. It asks how texts portray women, how language and literary traditions may reinforce male domination, and whose experiences are treated as important or universal.
Feminist literary criticism is the study and interpretation of literature informed by feminist theory. It explores how literary language, characters, plots, and conventions represent gender and shape ideas about women and men.
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Feminist literary criticism
Interpretation of literature informed by feminist theory that examines gender, power, representation, and the social forces shaping texts.
Literary canon
A body of works commonly recognized, studied, and taught as important literature.
Gynocriticism
An approach associated with Elaine Showalter that studies women's writing and literary history from a female perspective.
Intersectionality
An approach that examines how gender interacts with race, class, sexuality, and other aspects of identity and social position.
Critical literary feminism
Susan Lanser's term emphasizing the political context of literary criticism as well as the critical act itself.
Quiz questions
What features of a literary work does Feminine Critique emphasize when examining implicit misogyny?Answer: Plot, character, and narrative structure.
What is the central focus of gynocriticism, associated with Elaine Showalter?Answer: Women's writing and literary history studied from a female perspective.
What does an intersectional reading of a literary character examine?Answer: How gender interacts with other aspects of identity and social position.
In A Room of One's Own, what did Virginia Woolf argue women needed to write creatively and gain recognition?Answer: Financial stability and a private space of their own.
What opposing categories did Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar identify in traditions that confined women writers?Answer: Women represented as either angels or monsters.