Sexual/textual politics: feminist literary theory PDF
Preview Sexual/textual politics: feminist literary theory
Sexual/Textual Politics ‘Neither a purely objective documentary nor a narrowly sectarian polemic ... this book exemplifies feminist theory-making at its rigorous best.’ Women’s Review What are the political implications of a feminist critical practice? How do the problems of the literary text relate to the priorities and perspectives of feminist politics as a whole? Sexual/Textual Politics addresses these fundamental questions and examines the strengths and limitations of the two main strands in feminist criticism, the Anglo-American and the French, paying particular attention to the works of Cixous, Irigaray and Kristeva. In the years since publication this book has rightly attained the status of a classic. Written for readers with little knowledge of the subject, Sexual/Textual Politics nevertheless makes its own intervention into key debates, arguing provocatively for a com- mitedly political and theoretical criticism as against merely textual or apolitical approaches. With a new afterword in this edition, Sexual/Textual Politics is a brilliantly accessible must-read for all those interested in feminist literary theory. Toril Moi is James B. Duke Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University, North Carolina. She is the author of several influential works on feminist literary theory, including What is a Woman? (1999). IN THE SAME SERIES Alternative Shakespeares ed. John Drakakis Alternative Shakespeares: Volume 2 ed. Terence Hawkes Critical Practice Catherine Belsey Deconstruction: Theory and Practice Christopher Norris Dialogue and Difference: English for the Nineties ed. Peter Brooker and Peter Humm The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literature Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion Rosemary Jackson Dialogism: Bakhtin and his World Michael Holquist Formalism and Marxism Tony Bennett Making a Difference: Feminist Literary Criticism ed. Gayle Green and Coppélia Kahn Metafiction: The Theory and Practice of Self-Conscious Fiction Patricia Waugh Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word Walter J. Ong The Politics of Postmodernism Linda Hutcheon Post-Colonial Shakespeares ed. Ania Loomba and Martin Orkin Reading Television John Fiske and John Hartley The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama Keir Elam Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory Toril Moi Structuralism and Semiotics Terence Hawkes Studying British Cultures: An Introduction ed. Susan Bassnett Subculture: The Meaning of Style Dick Hebdige Telling Stories: A Theoretical Analysis of Narrative Fiction Steven Cohan and Linda M. Shires Translation Studies Susan Bassnett Toril Moi Sexual/Textual Politics Feminist Literary Theory 2nd Edition London and New York First published 1985 by Methuen & Co. Ltd Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This second edition first published 2002 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. © 1985, 2002 Toril Moi All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-42603-7Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-44041-2(Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0–415–28011–7 (Hbk) ISBN 0–415–28012–5 (Pbk) Til mamma og pappa CONTENTS General Editor’s Preface xi Preface xiii Acknowledgements xvii A Note on the Text xix Introduction: Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? Feminist readings of Woolf 1 The rejection of Woolf 2 Rescuing Woolf for feminist politics: some points towards an alternative reading 9 PART I Anglo-American feminist criticism 1 Two feminist classics 21 Kate Millett 24 Mary Ellmann 31 2 ‘Images of Women’ criticism 41 3 Women writing and writing about women 49 Towards a woman-centred perspective 49 ‘Literary Women’ 52 viii contents ‘A Literature of Their Own’ 54 ‘The Madwoman in the Attic’ 56 4 Theoretical reflections 69 Annette Kolodny 69 Elaine Showalter 74 Myra Jehlen 79 PART II French feminist theory 5 From Simone de Beauvoir to Jacques Lacan 89 Simone de Beauvoir and Marxist feminism 89 French feminism after 1968 93 Jacques Lacan 97 6 Hélène Cixous: an imaginary utopia 100 Patriarchal binary thought 102 Difference 103 Ecriture féminine 1) masculinity, femininity, bisexuality 106 The gift and the proper 108 Ecriture féminine 2) the source and the voice 112 Imaginary contradictions 117 Power, ideology, politics 119 7 Patriarchal reflections: Luce Irigaray’s looking-glass 126 Speculum 128 Specul(ariz)ation and mimeticism 131 Freud 131 Mysticism 135 The inexorable logic of the Same 137 Womanspeak: a tale told by an idiot? 142 Idealism and ahistoricism 146 8 Marginality and subversion: Julia Kristeva 149 L’Etrangère 149 Kristeva and Anglo-American feminist linguistics 150 Sex differences in language use 152 Sexism in language 155 contents ix Language, femininity, revolution 160 The acquisition of language 160 Femininity as marginality 162 Feminism, Marxism, anarchism 166 Afterword 173 Notes 186 References 197 Index 211
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