Introduction to Literary Theories and Criticisms (Enla 422), 2011
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- 2.3.1.4 Feminism Literary Criticism
| Lacan's model of the psyche:
Imaginary - a preverbal/verbal stage in which a child (around 6-18 months of age) begins to develop a sense of separateness from her mother as well as other people and objects; however, the child's sense of sense is still incomplete. Symbolic - the stage marking a child's entrance into language (the ability to understand and generate symbols); in contrast to the imaginary stage, largely focused on the mother, the symbolic stage shifts attention to the father who, in Lacanian theory, represents cultural norms, laws, language, and power (the symbol of power is the phallus--an arguably "gender-neutral" term). Real - an unattainable stage representing all that a person is not and does not have. Both Lacan and his critics argue whether the real order represents the period before the imaginary order when a child is completely fulfilled--without need or lack, or if the real order follows the symbolic order and represents our "perennial lack" (because we cannot return to the state of wholeness that existed before language). 2.3.1.4 Feminism Literary Criticism A. Historical Roots of Feminist Literary Criticism Oppermann (1994) explains that literary history of women images traced back to Aristotle assertion which says “the female is female by virtue of a certain lack of qualities” and St. Thomas Aquinas’s biased representation of women as they are an imperfect man (1399). Plato was a feminist, given his view that women should be trained to rule (Republic, Book V), even though he was an exception in his historical context. In contrast, Mary Wollstonecraft’s ‘A Vindication of the Right of Women’ (1792) was the first milestone which advocated the equality of both sexes. In 1929, Virginia Wolf’s ‘A Room of Ones Own’ enhanced the female responsiveness and criticism. She insisted women to demolish the false cultural constructs to live the world of reality than the world of men. Likewise, Simon de Beauvior in her “Second Sex” (1949) activated women to break the bonds of Patriarchal society. Kate Millet, in her ‘Sexual Politics’ (1970) asserted that gender is a social construct by saying “A female is born but a woman is created.” Download 333 Kb. Share with your friends:
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