Feminist Literary criticism' s Aesthetic Turn

108 Pages·2008·4.39 MB·English

From Discovery to Creation:
Feminist Literary criticism' s Aesthetic Turn
Alison MacKeen
Dept. of English
McGill University, Montreal
September, 1989
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and
Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Masters of Arts.
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( ABSTRAÇT
This thesis challenges the way feminist literary criticism
has been represer'lted as a field polarized between American and
French positions. As an alternative to the Americln/French
distinction, l propose one between feminist criticism oriented to
research and feminist criticism oriented to aesthetics. In
keeping with this alternative distinction, l relocate the shift
in feminist criticism within American feminism. The "aesthetic
turn" inauqurated by American "qynocriticism" is itself
identified in relation to a more generai philosophical shift
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discoyery creation. While the relativistic and voluntaristic
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tendencies which distinguish the latter pole are exemplified by
French feminism, l arque that they are anticipated by American
feminism's "aesthetic turn." FinaIIy, this thesis not only
relocates and redefines the shift in feminist literary criticism,
but provides arguments in favour of a research-oriented feminist
criticism.
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RESUME
Cette thèse opère une critique de l'idée selon laquelle la
critique littéraire feministe se divise en deux camps opposés,
l'un américain, l'autre français. Je defends au contraire l'idée
qu'il faut insister sur la différence entre une critique ayant
une orientation de recherche, d'une part, et d'autre part une
crit ique visant des buts esthétiques--cette distinction étant
pertinente ~ l'intérieur du :féminisme américain. La "tournure
esthétique" qu'ont opérée certaines feministes américaines (les
"gynocritiques") s'identifie ici par rapport à un glissement de
la découverte à la création. Alors que celle-ci caractérise des
relativismes propres au féminisme français, le désir d'un
feminisme "créatif" et "libre" s'anticipe déjà dans certaines
feminismes américains. La thèse critique ce glissement vers
l'esthétique, et propose des arguments en faveur d'une cri tique
féministe orientée vers la recherche.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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1 have many people to thank at McGill. First of all, I
would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Paisley Livingston.
1 am tremendously qrateful not only for his incredible
encouragement and generousity throughout the writing of this
thesis, but also for the opportunity to work with someone whose
own researeh makes literary criticism seem a relevant and
val uable activ i ty.
1 would also like to thank Professor Michael Bristol. It is
impossible to exaqgerate the extent to whieh 1 have benefited
over the years both from his inspiring teaching and bis
exceptional commi tment to bis students.
1 have also benefited, both as an undergraduate and as a
graduate student, from the competence and kindness of Cheryl
Welwood. She has the rare ability to make bureaucratie ehores a
pleasant experienee.
Finally, thanks are due to my friends, Maggie Berg, Mette
Hjort, and Barbara Leckie, aIl of whom represent for me the
tremendous potential of academie feminism--not to mention, female
solidarity!
This thesis has been written with generous research support
from FCAR and McGill. I would like to express my gratitude to
bath these institutions.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduct ion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. , . . . ........... 1
Chapter 1. The Context of Femlnist criticism •••••••..•.• 4
Chapter 2. Readinq and writinq: '!'Wo Modes of American
Feminist CriticisIIl .••...•••••.••••..•• 26
Chapter 3. Pluralism, Praqmatism, and
Feminist Criticismls Aesthetic Turn ..•••••.••• 65
...................................
Conclusion ........... . 98
Works ci ted ....•.....•....••.....•.....••................• 99
... "
INTRODUCTION
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In the last twenty or years, feminiat criticism has
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become one of the most prominent and productive forms of
literary criticism. Feminist scholars have not only
contributed to research in all tbe major historical periods
and genres of literary studies, but they have also
contributed to debates in literary theory. As a result,
feminist cri ticism is now widely acknowledged to be a crucial
component of literary cri.tical and theoretical discourse.
The aim of this thesis is both to describe some of the
salient developments in feminist literary criticism, and, at
the same time, to challenge the manner in which these
developments have typically been thematized: namely, as an
opposition between Amer!can and French feminism. My
hypothesis ia that the American/French distinction has not
only diverted attention from many of the important issues at
stake in feminist literary criticism, but has at the same
time prevented feminist literary critics from contributing
most effectively to the Women's Novement.
l bel ieve that one of the crucial issues which the
American/French distinction has obscured is the difference
between feminist oriented to research and feminist crit icism
oriented to aesthetics. Thus, as an alternative to the
American/French distinction, l propose to focus attention on
the differences between literary research and aesthetic
practices. This alternative distinction not only has the
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advantage of organizing developments in feminist criticism in
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relation to issues, as opposed to national boundaries, but it
has the further advantage of making the various disciplinary
specifie and aesthetic assumptions guiding both AlIIerican Ans1
French feminisms the object of explicit debate. For it is my
conviction that feminist literary critics' failure to raflect
critically on the constitutive assumptions and methods of
their discipline has seriously undermined the relevance of
their work. This failure is evident in feminlst critics'
inability to articulate in any precise manner the relation of
feminist lit erary crit icism to the Women' s Movement. While
feminists have more than justified the importance of feminism
to literary criticism, they have typically failed to give any
account of why 1 i terature and 1 i terary theory are themselves
valuable obj ects of study. Indeed, most discussions assume
an audience for whom the latter simply goes without saying.
My project is, thus, motivated by the belief that the
failure to address adequately the question concerning the
relevance of literary study has significantly inhibited the
progress of feminist research. My principal goal in
challenging the French/American distinction is to identify
some of the aesthetic assumptions which contributed to this
fallure. In so doing, I shall also defend the relevance of a
feminist literary critlcism oriented to research. This
orientation seems to me indispensable if feminist critics
wish to clarify their relationship, and contribute more
effectively, to the mass political movement from which
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academic feminism has emerqed.
The thesia i. compriaed ot three chapters. In the
tirst, l cievelop a general context in which to aituate
developments in feminiat literary criticism, paying
particular attention to French femini.m. A. the most extreme
instantiation of feminist crit icism • s qeneral philosophical
shift from discoyery to creation, my discussion of French
feminism serves to introduce many of the crucial epistemic
and ethical themes which 1 take up later in relation to
American feminism. In the second chapter, 1 relocate and
redefine the shift in feminist criticism with respect to the
two primary modes of American criticism: so-called "Images of
Women" and "qynocriticism." Gynocriticism, 1 argue,
inaugurates feminict criticism' s "aesthetic turn" and, at the
same time, anticipates the aore general shift from discovery
to crelltion. This latter shitt is further discussed in
relation to Annette Kolodny's defense of critical pluralisme
In identifying Kolodny·. pluralism in relation to the
philosophical tradition of American pragmatiam, my concern
is, once again, to challenqe the conceptual validity of the
American/French distinction, and to raise more general issues
concerning the consequences of pragmati.m for teminist
literary critical and political practice.
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CHAPTER
Context 2f Feminist Criticis,m
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contemporary feminism shares many features of such new
social movements as the ecology, peace, and qay movements.
These non-class specifie forms of protest are distinguished
by their concern with substantive as opposed to formal
issues. In contrast to tradi tional bourgeois liberation
movements, new social movements are not neeessarily concerned
to extend rights, but rather to expose the limitations of,
and develop alternatives to, the values and praetices which
determine modern life. New social movements typieally
protest the ways in which modern capitalist soeieties
subordinate issues related to human flourishing to their
interest in progress and growth. As Jürqen Habermas remarks,
"the new eonfliets are not sparked by Droblems of
distribution, but concern the grammar of forms of life"
(1981:32) •
Given the recent defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment in
the United states, it is clear that feminists cannot afford
to take the issue of equality lightly. But al though most
feminists remain committed to the struqgle for equal riqhts-
at least on a practical level--many have expressed
dissatisfaction wi th liberal feminists' failure to think
beyond a formaI rights-based model. This dissatisfaction ls
reflected in two related ways: in feminists • increasing
awareness of the systemie nature of wOllen' s oppression; and
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in their r.easting of tbe question sexual
o~ di~ference.
%ha Feminist
çriti~4e
Critics of lib.ral feminism argue tbat liberal
feminists' failure to address the .ystemie nature of women'.
oppression has placed wvmen in a somewhat paradoxical
position. They maintain that in thelr attempts to guarantee
women equal access to institutions from whi.::h they have
traditionally been excluded, lib• • ral feminists have failed
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see the extent to which these institutions are themselves
predicated on and productive of "the gender-sex system". 1
These women--I' Il calI them feminist critics--therefore tend
to see, for example, the rising number of female executives
and mainstream politicians as (at best) a qualified victory.
For wbile tbey appreciate that these developments signal a
decline in sexism, they make the further point that women' s
accession to these positions implicitly affirms institutional
norms and values which bave in various ways contributed to
the devaluation and subordination of women. A distinctive
lThis formulation, taken from Seyla Benhabib, invok• •
Gail Rubin • s well-known definition o~ th~ "sex-gender
system." It seems to me, however, that Benhabib provldas a
richer and less deterministic definition: ..... tbe gender-sex
system is not a contingent but an essential way in which
social rea1ity ia lived through exparlentia11y. By the
• gender-sex system' 1 understand the aocial-historical,
symbollc constitution, and interpretation of the anatomiea1
differenees of the sexes. The gender-sex system ls a grid
through which the self develops an embodied identity ......
( (1987: 80)