Feminist literature
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Feminist literature is fiction, nonfiction, drama, or poetry, which supports the feminist goals of defining, establishing, and defending equal civil, political, economic, and social rights for women. It often identifies women's roles as unequal to those of men – particularly as regarding status, privilege, and power – and generally portrays the consequences to women, men, families, communities, and societies as undesirable.
History
In the 15th Century, Christine de Pizan wrote The Book of the City of Ladies which combats prejudices and enhances the importance of women in society. The book follows the model of De Mulieribus Claris, written in the 14th Century by Giovanni Boccaccio.
The feminist movement produced feminist fiction, feminist non-fiction, and feminist poetry, which created new interest in women's writing. It also prompted a general reevaluation of women's historical and academic contributions in response to the belief that women's lives and contributions have been underrepresented as areas of scholarly interest. There has also been a close link between feminist literature and activism, with feminist writing typically voicing key concerns or ideas of feminism in a particular era.
Much of the early feminist literary scholarship was given over to the rediscovery and reclamation of texts written by women. In Western feminist literary scholarship, Studies like Dale Spender's Mothers of the Novel (1986) and Jane Spencer's The Rise of the Woman Novelist (1986) were ground-breaking in their insistence that women have always been writing.
Commensurate with this growth in scholarly interest, various presses began the task of reissuing long-out-of-print texts. Virago Press began to publish its large list of 19th and early-20th-century novels in 1975 and became one of the first commercial presses to join in the project of reclamation. In the 1980s, Pandora Press, responsible for publishing Spender's study, issued a companion line of 18th-century novels written by women. More recently, Broadview Press continues to issue 18th- and 19th-century novels, many hitherto out of print, and the University of Kentucky has a series of republications of early women's novels.
Particular works of literature have come to be known as key feminist texts. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) by Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy. A Room of One's Own (1929) by Virginia Woolf, is noted in its argument for both a literal and figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy. Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch (1970) questions the self-limiting role of the woman homemaker.
The widespread interest in women's writing is related to a general reassessment and expansion of the literary canon. Interest in post-colonial literature, gay and lesbian literature, writing by people of color, working people's writing, and the cultural productions of other historically marginalized groups have resulted in a whole scale expansion of what is considered "literature" and genres hitherto not regarded as "literary" such as children's writing, journals, letters, travel writing, and many others are now the subjects of scholarly interest. Most genres and subgenres have undergone a similar analysis, so literary studies have entered new territories such as the "female gothic" or women's science fiction.
According to Elyce Rae Helford, "Science fiction and fantasy serve as important vehicles for feminist thought, particularly as bridges between theory and practice." Feminist science fiction is sometimes taught at the university level to explore the role of social constructs in understanding gender. Notable texts of this kind are Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), Joanna Russ' The Female Man (1970), Octavia Butler's Kindred (1979), and Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale (1985).
Feminist nonfiction has played an important role in voicing concerns about women's lived experiences. For example, Maya Angelou's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings was extremely influential, as it represented the specific racism and sexism experienced by black women growing up in the United States.
In addition, many feminist movements have embraced poetry as a vehicle to communicate feminist ideas to public audiences through anthologies, poetry collections, and public readings.
Feminist children's literature
Feminist children's literature is the writing of children's literature through a feminist lens. Children's literature and women's literature have many similarities. Both often deal with being weak and placed towards the bottom of a hierarchy. In this way feminist ideas are regularly found in the structure of children's literature. Feminist criticism of children's literature is therefore expected, since it is a type of feminist literature. Feminist children's literature has played a critical role for the feminist movement, especially in the past half century. In her book Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics, bell hooks states her belief that all types of media, including writing and children's books, need to promote feminist ideals. She argues "Children's literature is one of the most crucial sites for feminist education for critical consciousness precisely because beliefs and identities are still being formed".
Feminist science fiction
Feminist science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction (abbreviated "SF") focused on theories that include feminist themes including but not limited to, gender inequality, sexuality, race, economics, and reproduction. Feminist SF is political because of its tendency to critique the dominant culture. Some of the most notable feminist science fiction works have illustrated these themes using utopias to explore a society in which gender differences or gender power imbalances do not exist, or dystopias to explore worlds in which gender inequalities are intensified, thus asserting a need for feminist work to continue.
- Science fiction and fantasy serve as important vehicles for feminist thought, particularly as bridges between theory and practice. No other genres so actively invite representations of the ultimate goals of feminism: worlds free of sexism, worlds in which women's contributions (to science) are recognized and valued, worlds that explore the diversity of women's desire and sexuality, and worlds that move beyond gender.
This is a list of important contributions to the literature of feminism, listed by year of first publication.
15th century
- The Book of the City of Ladies, Christine de Pisan (ca. 1405)
- The Treasure of the City of Ladies, Christine de Pisan (ca. 1405)
- The Tale of Joan of Arc, Christine de Pisan (1429)
16th century
- Her Protection for Women, Jane Anger (1589)
- The Superior Excellence of Women Over Men, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
17th century
- The Adventure of the Black Lady, Aphra Behn (1640-1689)
- Égalité des hommes et des femmes, 1622 and Grief des dames, 1626, Marie Le Jars de Gournay
- De l'égalité des deux sexes, François Poullain de la Barre, 1673
1791
- A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft
- Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, Olympe de Gouges (born Marie Gouze)
1798
1828
1832
- Indiana, George Sand
- Valentine, George Sand
1833
1834
- Jacques, George Sand
1845
1861
1869
- The Woman with Prospects, Concepción Arenal (Seville, Spain)
1872
- The Adventures of a Woman in Search of her Rights, Florence Claxton
1874
- Papa's Own Girl, Marie Howland
1875
1879
1880–81
- Mizora, Mary Lane
1883
- Augusta Bender (Smith College located in Northampton, Massachusetts, is today the largest women's college in the United States, 1891):
- Die Frauenfrage in Deutschland 1883 - Gesammelte Werke. Odenwälder, Buchen. ca. 360 S. ISBN
- Ein deutsches Mädchen in Amerika Novelle 1893 engl. / 1901 germ.
- The Woman in her House, Concepción Arenal (Madrid, Spain)
1886
- Cathy the Caryatid (Template:Lang-pl), novel by Gabriela Zapolska
1889
- New Amazonia, Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett
1893
- The New Woman, Bolesław Prus
- Unveiling a Parallel, Alice Ilgenfritz Jones & Ella Merchant
1899
- Arqtiq, Anna Adolph
- The Awakening, Kate Chopin
1905
1912
1929
1938
1949
1963
- The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan, Penguin Books
1967
- The Radical Women Manifesto: Theory, Program and Structure
1970
- The Female Eunuch, Germaine Greer
- Sexual Politics, Kate Millett
- The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution, Shulamith Firestone
- Morgan, Robin, ed. Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement, 1970.
1971
- Woman's Estate, Juliet Mitchell
1973
- Beyond God the Father, Mary Daly
1974
- "Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture?", Sherry B. Ortner
1975
- “Toward a Phenomenology of Feminist Consciousness,” Sandra Bartky
- Against Our Will, Susan Brownmiller
- The Female Imagination, Patricia Meyer Spacks
- "The Traffic of Women," Gayle Rubin
- The Female Man, Joanna Russ
1976
- Lover, Bertha Harris
- Literary Women, Ellen Moers
- Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman, Michele Wallace
- Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution, Adrienne Rich
- When God Was a Woman, Merlin Stone
1977
1979
- The Madwoman in the Attic, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar
- The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter
- Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her, Susan Griffin
- Berk, Sarah Fenstermaker, ed. Women and Household Labor, Sage
1981
- Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism, bell hooks
- Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua. "This bridge called my back: writings by radical women of color"
1982
- In a Different Voice, Carol Gilligan
1983
- Women, Race, and Class, Angela Davis
- The Politics of Reality, Marilyn Frye (especially "Oppression")
- Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, Gloria Steinem
- Spender, Dale (ed.) Feminist theorists: Three centuries of key women thinkers, Pantheon 1983, ISBN 0-394-53438-7
- How to Suppress Women's Writing, Joanna Russ
1984
- Pure Lust, Mary Daly
- Sister/Outsider, Audre Lorde
- Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, bell hooks, ISBN 0-89608-614-3
1985
- The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
- French, Marilyn. "Beyond Power"; "War Against Women"; "From Eve to Dawn", a 3-volume history of women
1986
- Feminist Studies, Critical Studies, Teresa de Lauretis
- Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Select Prose (1979-1985), Adrienne Rich (especially "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence")
1987
- Borderlands, Gloria Anzaldúa
- Intercourse, Andrea Dworkin
1988
- Lesbian Ethics: Toward New Value, Sarah Lucia Hoagland
1989
- A Vindication of The Rights of Whores, Gail Pheterson(ed.)
- Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (Thinking Gender), Judith Butler
- Gossett, Hattie. "Presenting sister noblues"
1990
- Black Feminist Thought, Patricia Hill Collins
- Echols, Alice. "Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975", University of Minnesota Press 1990
1991
- Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, Susan Faludi
- Sexual/Textual Politics, Toril Moi
- The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf
1992
- Revolution From Within: A Book of Self-Esteem, Gloria Steinem
- Women Who Run With the Wolves : Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, Clarissa Pinkola Estes
- Race, Class and Gender in the U.S., Paula Rothenberg
- Tavris, Carol. "The Mismeasure of Woman: Why Women Are Not the Better Sex, the Opposite Sex, or the Inferior Sex". Simon and Schuster, 1992. ISBN 0-671-66274-0
- Faludi, Susan. "Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women". 1992 (ISBN 0-385-42507-4)
1993
- Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body, Susan Bordo
- Fire With Fire : The New Female Power And How It Will Change the 21st Century, Naomi Wolf
1994
- Gender Outlaw, Kate Bornstein
- Schneir, Miriam. "Feminism : The Essential Historical Writings", New York: Vintage 1994
- Lerner, Gerda. "The Creation of Feminist Consciousness: From the Middle Ages to Eighteen-Seventy", Oxford University Press 1994
1995
- Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation, ed. Barbara Findlen
- To Be Real, ed. Rebecca Walker
- Wertheim, Margaret. "Pythagoras' Trousers - God, Physics, and the Gender Wars", W.W. Norton & Co. (1995, 1997)
1996
- Sommers, Christina Hoff. "Who Stole Feminism? - How women have betrayed women" (1996) (ISBN 0-684-80156-6)
- Silvers, Anita and Sterling Harwood, "Womb for Rent: Surrogate Motherhood and the Case of Baby M," in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996), pp. 190-193.
1997
- The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses, Oyeronke Oyewumi
- Mitchell, Julie and Ann Oakley (eds.). Who's Afraid of Feminism?: Seeing Through the Backlash, New Press, 1997. ISBN 1-56584-385-1
1998
- Upanibesh, Sarojini Sahoo - the first attempt in the literature of the Oriya language of India to focus on sexuality as a part of social revolt by a woman.
- Jacobson, Joyce P. "The Economics of Gender" 1998. (ISBN 0-631-20726-0)
1999
- Pratibandi, Sarojini Sahoo ISBN NO :81-7411-253-7 - the novel has its own credibility for the frankness of the writer to deals with the sensitive matters either it may be in politics or in sexuality in Indian (Oriya) literature .
- Stiffed : The Betrayal of the American Man, Susan Faludi
- the whole woman, Germaine Greer
2000
- Feminism Is For Everybody : Passionate Politics, bell hooks
- ManifestA : young women, feminism, and the future, Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards
- Slut! : Growing Up Female With A Bad Reputation, Leora Tanenbaum
- Hill Collins, Patricia, "Black Feminist Thought. Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment", Second Edition, Routledge 2000
2002
2004
2005
- Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, Ariel Levy
- Walters, Margaret. "Feminism: A very short introduction". Oxford 2005 (ISBN 0-19-280510-X)
- Are Men Necessary? When Sexes Collide, Maureen Dowd
2006
- Sarojini Sahoo- The Dark Abode ( Gambhiri Ghara in Oriya and Mithya Gerosthali in Bengali ) , (ISBN NO :ISBN No :984 404 287-9) - It is all about the providence of a woman in India, it also portrays a story how a perverted man becomes slowly as a perfect man, it describes the relation between the ‘state’ and the ‘individual’ and comes in a conclusion that ‘the state’ represents the mood and wish of a ruler and hence ‘the state’ is a form of ‘an individual’.The novel has been translated in to Bangla and published from Bangladesh in 2007.
- Stripped: Inside The Lives of Exotic Dancers, Bernadette Barton
- del Giorgio, J.F., The Oldest Europeans:Who are we? Where do we come from? What made European women different?.A.J.Place 2006 (ISBN 980-6898-00-1)
See also
- List of early-modern women playwrights (UK)
- List of female poets
- List of feminist poets
- List of women novelists before Jane Austen
- List of women rhetoricians
- List of women writers
- Women's writing in English
- Feminist literary criticism