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This page intentionally left blank A HISTORY OF FEMINIST LITERARY CRITICISM Feminism has transformed the academic study of literature, funda- mentallyalteringthecanonofwhatistaughtandsettingnewagendas for literary analysis. In this authoritative history of feminist literary criticism,leadingscholarschartthedevelopmentofthepracticefrom theMiddleAgestothepresent.Thefirstsectionofthebookexplores protofeministthoughtfromtheMiddleAgesonwards,andanalyses theworkofpioneerssuchasWollstonecraftandWoolf.Thesecond section examines the rise of second-wave feminism and maps its interventions across the twentieth century. A final section examines theimpactofpostmodernismonfeministthoughtandpractice.This bookoffersacomprehensiveguidetothehistoryanddevelopmentof feministliterarycriticismandalivelyreassessmentofthemainissues and authors in the field. It is essential reading for all students and scholarsoffeministwritingandliterarycriticism. GILL PLAIN isProfessorofEnglishattheUniversityofStAndrews, Scotland. SUSANSELLERSisProfessorofEnglishattheUniversityofStAndrews, Scotland. A HISTORY OF FEMINIST LITERARY CRITICISM EDITED BY GILL PLAIN AND SUSAN SELLERS CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521852555 © Cambridge University Press 2007 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2007 ISBN-13 978-0-511-34237-0 eBook (NetLibrary) ISBN-10 0-511-34237-3 eBook (NetLibrary) ISBN-13 978-0-521-85255-5 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-85255-2 hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Contents Acknowledgements pagevii Notesoncontributors viii Introduction 1 GillPlainandSusanSellers 5 PART I PIONEERS AND PROTOFEMINISM IntroductiontoPartI 6 GillPlain 1 Medievalfeministcriticism 11 CarolynDinshaw 2 FeministcriticismintheRenaissanceandseventeenthcentury 27 HelenWilcox 3 MaryWollstonecraftandherlegacy 46 SusanManly 4 ThefeministcriticismofVirginiaWoolf 66 JaneGoldman 5 SimonedeBeauvoirandthedemystificationofwoman 85 ElizabethFallaize 101 PART II CREATING A FEMINIST LITERARY CRITICISM IntroductiontoPartII 102 GillPlainandSusanSellers 6 Literaryrepresentationsofwomen 105 MaryEagleton v vi Contents 7 Ahistoryofwomen’swriting 120 HelenCarr 8 Autobiographyandpersonalcriticism 138 LindaAnderson 9 Blackfeministcriticism 154 ArleneR.Keizer 10 Lesbianfeministcriticism 169 CarolineGonda 11 Menandfeministcriticism 187 CalvinThomas 209 PART III POSTSTRUCTURALISM AND BEYOND IntroductiontoPartIII 210 GillPlainandSusanSellers 12 Feministcriticismandpoststructuralism 214 ClaireColebrook 13 Feministcriticismandpsychoanalysis 235 MadelonSprengnether 14 Frenchfeministcriticismandwritingthebody 263 JudithStill 15 Postcolonialfeministcriticism 282 ChrisWeedon 16 Feministcriticismandqueertheory 301 HeatherLove 17 Feministcriticismandtechnologiesofthebody 322 StacyGillis Postscript:flamingfeminism? 336 SusanGubar Index 342 Acknowledgements OurthanksareduetotheSchoolofEnglishattheUniversityofStAndrews fortheresearchfunding,leaveandsupportthathavehelpedustocomplete thisproject.HopeJenningsprovidedinvaluablehelpwiththecompilation ofthebook–wecouldnothavedonethiswithouther–andanumberof peopleinStAndrewsweregenerousintheprovisionofpracticalsupport. In particular we should like to thank the secretaries in the School of English: Jill Gamble, Jane Sommerville, Sandra McDevitt and Frances Mullan. SusanSellerswouldliketothanktheLeverhulmeTrustforthefunding of a period of leave during which this project was first conceived, and we should bothliketo thank RayRyan andMaartjeScheltens at Cambridge UniversityPress.Raycommissionedthebookandsupporteditthroughout its development,whileMaartje carefullyguided thebookand usthrough theproductionprocess. Anenormousnumberofpeoplehelpedinthepreparationoftheproject, offeringvitalsuggestionsasweprogressed.Inadequaterecordswerekeptof our many debts, but amongst those giving welcome advice were Sara Ahmed,IsobelArmstrong,KateChedgzoy,PriyamvadaGopal,MaryJacobus, JackieJones,JudithHalberstam,BertholdSchoene,ElaineShowalterand Frances Spalding. Above all we would like to thank our contributors for their unstinting professionalism and enthusiasm for the project. We feel privilegedtohavehadsuchanexcellentgroupofcriticsdevotingtheirtime tothebook. Finally,wewouldliketodedicatethisbooktoJoCamplingandtothe manyotherfeministcriticswhohavehelpedandinspiredusovertheyears. vii Contributors LINDA ANDERSON is Professor of Modern English and American Literature at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Her publications include Women and Autobiography in the Twentieth Century (1997), Territories of Desire in Queer Culture (with David Alderson, 2000), Autobiography (2001) and Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery (with Jo Shapcott,2002). HELEN CARR isProfessorintheDepartmentofEnglishandComparative LiteratureatGoldsmithsCollege,UniversityofLondon.Sheistheeditor of From My Guy to Sci-Fi: Women’s Writing and Genre in the Postmodern World (1989), and author of Inventing the American Primitive (1996) and Jean Rhys (1996). She was a co-founder and co-editor of Women’s Review andisaco-founderandco-editorofWomen:ACulturalReview. CLAIRE COLEBROOK isProfessorofEnglishLiteratureattheUniversityof Edinburgh and is the author of a number of books on Deleuze, literary criticism and literary theory. Her publications include Ethics and Representation(1999),GillesDeleuze(2002)andGender(2004). CAROLYN DINSHAW isProfessorofEnglishandSocialandCulturalAnalysis at New York University, where she founded the Center for the Study of GenderandSexuality.SheistheauthorofChaucer’sSexualPoetics(1989)and Getting Medieval: Sexualities and Communities, Pre- and Postmodern (1999), co-editorofTheCambridgeCompaniontoMedievalWomen’sWriting(2003) andfoundingco-editorofGLQ:AJournalofLesbianandGayStudies. MARY EAGLETON is Reader in the School of Cultural Studies at Leeds Metropolitan University. Her research interests focus on feminist literary historyandtheory,andcontemporarywomen’swriting.Shehaspublished widelyinbothareas.RecentpublicationsincludeAConciseCompanionto FeministThought(2003)andFiguringtheWomanAuthorinContemporary Fiction(2005). viii