Page 265 - DENG501_LITERARY_CRITICISM_AND_THEORIES

Gowher Ahmad Naik, Lovely Professional University Unit 23: Gynocriticism and Feminist Criticism: An Introduction

Unit 23: Gynocriticism and Feminist Criticism: Notes
An Introduction

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
23.1 Development as a Literary Critique
23.2 Gynocriticism and Psychology
23.3 Flaws as a Critique
23.4 The Future of Gynocriticism
23.5 Feminist Criticism: An Introduction
23.6 The New Feminist Criticism
23.7 Summary
23.8 Key-Words
23.9 Review Questions
23.10 Further Readings

Objectives

After reading this Unit students will be able to:
• Discuss the development as a Literary Critique.
• Explain the future of gynocriticism.
• Understand Feminist Criticism.

Introduction

Gynocriticism is the historical study of women writers as a distinct literary tradition. Elaine
Showalter coined this term in her essay "Toward a Feminist Poetics." It refers to a criticism that
constructs "a female framework for the analysis of women's literature, to develop new models
based on the study of female experience, rather than to adapt male models and theories" The work
of gynocriticism has been criticized by recent feminists for being essentialist, following too closely
along the lines of Sigmund Freud and New Criticism, and leaving out lesbians and women of color.
Gynocriticism is the study of feminist literature written by female writers inclusive of the
interrogation of female authorship, images, the feminine experience and ideology, and the history
and development of the female literary tradition. During the late eighteen hundreds and early
nineteen hundreds respectively, Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir began to review and
evaluate the female image and sexism in the works of male writers. During the nineteen sixties the
feminist movement saw a reaction and opposition to the male oriented discourse of previous
years. Most thoroughly developed during the late seventies and early eighties, gynocriticism was
a result of the interrogative critiques utilised in post-structuralism and psychoanalysis.

23.1 Development as a Literary Critique

Gynocriticism developed as a literary critique from the theories and techniques of post-structuralism
and psychoanalysis. Post-structuralism is by nature, the study of the uncertain (Barry 2009).
According to Barry, post-structuralism questions and interrogates the scientific certainty that
structuralism took for granted, identifying the fact that language is ambiguous and therefore the

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 259