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Comprehensive Discussion on Feminist Literary Criticism

Feminist Literary Criticism: Key Figures for UGC NET English

Feminist Literary Criticism

A Comprehensive Overview for UGC NET English

I. Background and Historical Development

Feminist literary criticism emerged as a political and literary response to the male-dominated literary canon and the patriarchal structures embedded in literature, criticism, and language. It gained theoretical momentum during the second wave of feminism in the 1960s and 70s.

Feminist criticism examines how literature perpetuates or challenges gender roles, highlights the absence or misrepresentation of women, and seeks to recover suppressed women's voices. It overlaps with psychoanalytic, Marxist, postcolonial, queer, and deconstructionist approaches.

II. Purpose of Feminist Literary Criticism

  • To challenge the androcentric literary canon.
  • To recover lost works by women writers.
  • To expose patriarchal ideologies embedded in texts.
  • To analyse how gender, language, and power intersect in literature.
  • To develop alternative literary theories like Gynocriticism.
  • To promote intersectional approaches incorporating race, class, and sexuality.

III. Phases of Feminist Criticism (Elaine Showalter)

  • Feminine Phase (1840–1880): Women imitate male literary norms.
  • Feminist Phase (1880–1920): Women protest against male values.
  • Female Phase (1920–present): Women explore female identity and language.

IV. Key Feminist Critics and Their Works (Chronologically)

Critic / Author Seminal Work Year Significance
Mary WollstonecraftA Vindication of the Rights of Woman1792Early feminist call for women's education
Margaret FullerWoman in the Nineteenth Century1845First major feminist work in the U.S.
Sojourner TruthAin’t I a Woman? (Speech)1851Intersectionality; Black feminist perspective
Virginia WoolfA Room of One’s Own1929Women’s creativity and financial independence
Virginia WoolfProfessions for Women1931"Killing the Angel in the House"
Simone de BeauvoirThe Second Sex1949“One is not born, but becomes, a woman”
Betty FriedanThe Feminine Mystique1963Critique of domestic ideology
Kate MillettSexual Politics1970Patriarchy in literature
Germaine GreerThe Female Eunuch1970Rejection of passive femininity
Shulamith FirestoneThe Dialectic of Sex1970Reproduction & technology
Juliet MitchellPsychoanalysis and Feminism1974Freud and feminism
Luce IrigaraySpeculum of the Other Woman1974French feminism
Hélène CixousThe Laugh of the Medusa1975Écriture féminine
Elaine ShowalterA Literature of Their Own1977Gynocriticism and literary history
Elaine ShowalterToward a Feminist Poetics1979Textual vs. Institutional criticism
Sandra Gilbert & Susan GubarThe Madwoman in the Attic1979Angel/Monster in women’s writing
Julia KristevaPowers of Horror1980Abjection and psychoanalysis
Dale SpenderMan Made Language1980Language as patriarchal tool
Michèle BarrettWomen’s Oppression Today1980Marxist-feminist reading
Sheila RowbothamHidden from History1973Feminist social history
bell hooksAin’t I a Woman?1981Race and gender oppression
bell hooksFeminist Theory: From Margin to Center1984Intersectionality and inclusion
Alice WalkerIn Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens1983Womanism; Black creativity
Toril MoiSexual/Textual Politics1985Overview of French theorists
Donna HarawayA Cyborg Manifesto1985Posthuman feminist identity
Gloria AnzaldúaBorderlands/La Frontera1987Chicana feminism, border theory
Hazel CarbyReconstructing Womanhood1987Black women’s intellectual history
Barbara ChristianThe Race for Theory1987Critique of elitist theory
Judith ButlerGender Trouble1990Gender as performance
Monique WittigThe Straight Mind1992Lesbian feminism
Gayatri Chakravorty SpivakCan the Subaltern Speak?1988Postcolonial feminism

V. Types of Feminist Literary Criticism

  • Liberal Feminism: Equal representation and inclusion.
  • Radical Feminism: Patriarchy and sexual oppression.
  • Marxist/Socialist Feminism: Class and economics.
  • Psychoanalytic Feminism: Unconscious, identity, and language.
  • French Feminism: Language and female difference.
  • Black Feminism: Race and gender intersectionality.
  • Postcolonial Feminism: Third World women, decolonization.
  • Ecofeminism: Gender and nature.
  • Queer Feminism: Gender fluidity and performativity.

✅ Quick Recap for UGC NET

  • Elaine Showalter – Gynocriticism
  • Gilbert and Gubar – Madwoman in the Attic
  • Judith Butler – Gender performativity
  • bell hooks – Intersectionality
  • Spivak – Subaltern studies
  • Cixous – Écriture féminine
  • Alice Walker – Womanism
  • Virginia Woolf – A Room of One’s Own
Gender Studies, Feminist Writers, Gynocriticism, Women Writers, Second Wave Feminism, Postcolonial Feminism, Intersectional Feminism, Black Feminism, Judith Butler, Elaine Showalter, Simone de Beauvoir, bell hooks, Alice Walker, Virginia Woolf, Literary Theory, UGC NET Preparation, NET English Notes, Feminist Literary Theorists, Feminist Thinkers, English Literature Study Material, Literary Criticism Notes, Feminism in English Literature, Important Critics for NET, Gender and Literature, Feminist Canon, Literary Feminism
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