Feminist literary studies: an introduction

Fülszöveg

This book is the first broad survey of both the dominant theories of feminist literary criticism and the critical practices which result from those theories. It is particularly original in being one of the few contributions to the subject to have been written by a male academic, in the belief that the basic premiss of feminist literary criticism - that gender is a crucial factor in the production, circulation and reception of literary texts — is of fundamental importance to all serious students of literature.
The book focusses on three main aspects of feminist criticism: first, the impact of marxism, structuralism, and post-structuralism on feminist critical practice; second, the argument that in a male-dominated society literary language, conventions, and forms are shaped by masculine biases; third, analyses of the characteristic styles and traditions of women's writing as distinct firom men's. There are copious quotations from a number of feminist critics and a select... Tovább

Fülszöveg

This book is the first broad survey of both the dominant theories of feminist literary criticism and the critical practices which result from those theories. It is particularly original in being one of the few contributions to the subject to have been written by a male academic, in the belief that the basic premiss of feminist literary criticism - that gender is a crucial factor in the production, circulation and reception of literary texts — is of fundamental importance to all serious students of literature.
The book focusses on three main aspects of feminist criticism: first, the impact of marxism, structuralism, and post-structuralism on feminist critical practice; second, the argument that in a male-dominated society literary language, conventions, and forms are shaped by masculine biases; third, analyses of the characteristic styles and traditions of women's writing as distinct firom men's. There are copious quotations from a number of feminist critics and a select bibliography of essays which are principally concerned with the nature and problems of feminist modes of criticism.
Professor Ruthven eschews jargon in his presentation of the central ideas and writes from a balanced, non-partisan standpoint. His lucid study will be an excellent introduction for any student of literature interested in feminist theory and practice.
Cover design by Peter Bate Vissza