Page 273 - DENG501_LITERARY_CRITICISM_AND_THEORIES

Unit 23: Gynocriticism and Feminist Criticism: An Introduction

a stunning, if controversial, reading of Toni Morrison's ''Sula.'' Lillian Robinson sets out the rationale Notes
for reformulating the literary canon; and Rosalind Coward's essay seeks to distinguish between
feminist fiction and women's novels.
This collection will be generally appreciated for what it suggests about the nature and significance
of feminist criticism in rectifying past errors of judgment. By focusing on women as readers and
writers, virtually all of these critics have been able to reveal the distortions of what is referred to
as ''masculinist'' bias. They also help us to redefine literary influence and reconceptualize literary
history. They ask probing questions about the special nature of women's creativity, retrieving and
placing in context the works of women poets and novelists who have been underestimated, misread
or flatly ignored. B ECAUSE her own theoretical position has determined her selection of the
essays, however, Mrs. Showalter has been less successful in suggesting the existing range of
theoretical and methodological approaches. Her view, developed in the two central essays of the
collection, is that the proper study of women is women: that feminist critics should neither treat
texts written by men nor draw their methodologies from a male-centered critical tradition. Her
preference is for a ''gynocriticism'' that is ''genuinely women-centered, independent, and
intellectually coherent.'' She is concerned with the psychodynamics of female creativity which she
observes in both the individual and collective habits of women writers. While Mrs. Showalter
acknowledges that the national, racial, ethnic, sexual and personal differences that separate women
from each other must also relate them socially, psychologically and economically to men, she does
not wish to develop a methodology capable of exploring these complex interconnections.
Some of the critics whose work appears in the collection do not themselves share her perspective,
but the book's selections nonetheless fall into the category of ''gynocriticism.'' As a result, with the
exception of an article by Nina Baym on how theories of American fiction exclude women authors,
interpretive essays that examine texts by male authors are not included. Particularly unfortunate
is the omission of representative essays that examine conjointly male and female texts that are
both theoretical and literary. However, a number of feminist critics engaged in this project have
not only given us fresh readings but, by helping us to understand the role of gender in determining
basic interpretive patterns, have enabled us to develop a more complex understanding of human
culture. The work of these critics calls for at the least a companion volume.
Self-Assessment
1. Choose the correct options:
(i) Gynocriticism is the tudy of feminist literature written by ............... .
(a) male writers (b) female writers
(c) both (a) and (b) (d) none of these
(ii) A second approach used by ............... .
(a) feminist (b) gynocriticism
(c) both (a) and (b) (d) none of these
23.7 Summary

• Gynocriticism is the historical study of women writers as a distinct literary tradition. (Friedman
18) 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"
• 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).

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