Feminist literature
Part of a series on |
Feminism |
---|
Feminism portal |
Feminist literature is fiction, nonfiction, drama, or poetry, which supports the
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. [citation needed]
The feminist movement produced
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 such as 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.[2] 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
According to Elyce Rae Helford, "Science fiction and fantasy serve as important vehicles for feminist thought, particularly as bridges between theory and practice."
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.[8]
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.[9]
Feminist children's literature
Feminist children's literature is the writing of
Feminist science fiction
Feminist science fiction is a subgenre of
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.
— Elyce Rae Helford[13]
Popular feminism literature
|
|
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-300-04854-4.
- ^ Gilbert, Sandra M. (4 May 1986). "Paperbacks: From Our Mothers' Libraries: women who created the novel". The New York Times.
- ^ Buck, Claire, ed. (1992). The Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature. Prentice Hall. p. vix.
- ^ Salzman, Paul (2000). "Introduction". Early Modern Women's Writing. Oxford UP. pp. ix–x.
- ^ Term coined by Ellen Moers in Literary Women: The Great Writers (New York: Doubleday, 1976). See also Juliann E. Fleenor, ed., The Female Gothic (Montreal: Eden Press, 1983) and Gary Kelly, ed., Varieties of Female Gothic 6 Vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2002).
- ISBN 978-0-300-04854-4.
- S2CID 145519594.
- ^ Shah, Mahvish (2018). "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings: Angelou's Quest to Truth and Power". Feminism in India.
- ^ Poetry Foundation. "A Change of World". Poetry Foundation.
- .
- ^ Hooks, Bell (2000). Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. New York: South End.
- ISBN 9780313329531. Preview.
- ^ Helford, p.291.