Essay about The Introduction of Feminist Criticism

1. Feminism The historical implication of Feminism usually means movement for recognition of the claims of woman for rights (legal, political, familial, etc.) equal to those possessed by men. It is said that Eve is depicted as made from a supernumerary bone of Adam; therefore, women have always been considered inferior to men. However, as Barnes suggests, the minimal criteria for feminism should include the claim for equal status, rights and roles with men. From the very early time, women began to strive fro their self-evaluation. The Enlightenment Movement and the American and French revolutions contributed a lot to the new rise of feminism. Such literary women as Austin, Bront#235;s, Eliot and Dickenson appeared that time. In†¦show more content†¦It consists of two parts: the Anglo-American which is believed to be more practically minded, and the French which is more theoretical. Feminist approaches draw from at least four areas of contemporary critical thoughts: historical (including Marxist), psychoanalytic, reader-response, and deconstructive theory. Feminist criticism therefore gains much of its validity from a variety of other critical approaches. The main concern of feminist literary criticism is the feminist language. Elaine Showalter argues that The task of feminist critics is to find a new intelligence and our experience, our reason and our suffering, our skepticism and our vision. (Showalter 141) She also proposes that the task for feminist criticism is to concentrate on womens access to language, on the available lexical range for which words can be selected, on the ideological and cultural determinations of expression. (Showalter 255) #8545;. A Historical Development of Feminist Criticism 1. First-wave Feminist Criticism (pre-1960s) Modern feminist criticism is deeply indebted to the work of two writers, Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir. Their viewpoints exhibits the strength as well as the challenge of literary feminism in the direction of two ways: (1) toward a feminist social critique, or an analysis of women attempting to write in a patriarchal cultural; (2) toward the development of a feminist esthetic, or an explanation of howShow MoreRelatedWomen During World Civilization, Men And Women921 Words   |  4 PagesDuring world civilization, men and women lived in an egalitarian system. However, the introduction of Agriculture changed that forever. Once men began hunting and women started gathering, the men considered what the women do as an easy job. This is when the world began to collapse in terms of gender discrimination and inequality. This unequal system continued throughout centuries and still exists today. 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