This document provides an agenda and discussion topics for an EWRT 1C class. It discusses questions about essay #1, introduces feminist criticism as the topic of discussion, and provides background information on intrinsic and extrinsic literary theories as well as the three waves of feminism. It contrasts the assumptions of New Criticism, an intrinsic theory, with those of Feminist Criticism, an extrinsic theory focused on addressing the oppression of women.
4. Questions about Essay 1
When is it due?
How long should it be?
What formatting style are we using?
How do we submit the paper?
Any other questions?
5. Categorizing Literary
Theories
In his book, An Essay on Criticism (1966) Graham
Hough distinguishes two categories of literary
theories. The first category—the intrinsic theories—is
concerned with the moral nature of literature. Theories
in this category primarily emphasize the total essence
of literature. The second is what he describes as the
extrinsic theories, which talk about the formal nature
of literature and more specifically what it is.
6. Intrinsic Theories
The intrinsically inclined literary theory isolates a work
of literature from its external reality. The supporters of
this classification see a text of literature as having no
relationship, either intended or implied, with the
external world. They assert that a work exists in its
own world. The critical theorists in this category are
the Formalists (The New Critics), Structuralists and
Post-structuralists or the Deconstructionists.
7. The Extrinsic Theories
The extrinsically inspired literary theories tend to associate a
literary piece with its external world. We see a departure
from the isolationist philosophy of the intrinsic critics.
Extrinsic criticism generally asserts that a work of literature
is both a representation of the age and a reflection of the
world in which it operates. Extrinsic theories value a text of
literature as a product of the external world: the creator’s
vision, imagination, and understanding. In this kind of
criticism, the artist is said to be inside of the literary
production, creating characters to carry out his mission.
Some modern literary theories in this category are
Psychoanalytical, Marxist, Feminist and Post-colonialist
criticism.
8. Feminist criticism is concerned with “the ways in which
literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or
undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological
oppression of women" (Tyson). This school of theory looks at
how aspects of our culture are inherently patriarchal (male
dominated) and “this critique strives to expose the explicit and
implicit misogyny in male writing about women" (Richter 1346).
This misogyny, Tyson reminds us, can extend into diverse
areas of our culture: "Perhaps the most chilling example [...] is
found in the world of modern medicine, where drugs
prescribed for both sexes often have been tested on male
subjects only" (83).
Feminist Theory and Criticism
9. The objectives of the criticism include
the following:
To uncover and develop a female tradition of writing
To interpret symbolism of women’s writing so that it will be
lost or ignored by the male point of view.
To rediscover old texts
To analyze women writers and their writing’s from a female
perspective
To increase awareness of the sexual politics of language and
style.
10. Feminist criticism has, in many ways,
followed what some theorists call the
three waves of feminism:
11. First Wave Feminism
Ran from late 1700s-early
1900's: writers like Mary
Wollstonecraft (A
Vindication of the Rights of
Women, 1792) highlight the
inequalities between the
sexes. Activists like Susan
B. Anthony and Victoria
Woodhull contribute to the
women's suffrage
movement, which leads to
National Universal Suffrage
in 1920 with the passing of
the Nineteenth Amendment
12. Second Wave Feminism
From early 1960s-late 1970s:
building on more equal working
conditions necessary in America
during World War II, movements
such as the National
Organization for Women (NOW),
formed in 1966, cohere feminist
political activism. Writers like
Simone de Beauvoir (Le
deuxième sexe, 1972) and
Elaine Showalter established the
groundwork for the
dissemination of feminist
theories dove-tailed with the
American Civil Rights movement
13. Third Wave Feminism
From early 1990s-present: resisting the perceived essentialist (over
generalized, over simplified) ideologies and a white, heterosexual, middle
class focus of second wave feminism, third wave feminism borrows from
post-structural and contemporary gender and race theories to expand on
marginalized populations' experiences. Writers like Alice Walker work to
“reconcile [feminism] with the concerns of the black community [and] the
survival and wholeness of her people, men and women both, and for the
promotion of dialog and community as well as for the valorization of
women and of all the varieties of work women perform" (Tyson 97).
14. Assumptions of New Criticism
The boundaries between self and other, text and
world are considered firm.
The critic is/should be a neutral observer.
The literary work is regarded as a self-enclosed
universe with its own logic. It stands apart from the
world but illuminates the world.
The literary work should be studied for its distinctively
literary elements, and for how they operate in relation
to each other in the world of the work. The work is
valuable for its own sake, not for any extrinsic
purpose.
http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/271/FeministCriticism.htm
15. Assumptions of Feminist Criticism
Women are oppressed by patriarchy economically, politically, socially,
and psychologically; patriarchal ideology is the primary means by
which they are kept so
In every domain where patriarchy reigns, woman is other: she is
marginalized, defined only by her difference from male norms and
values
All of western civilization is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology, for
example, in the biblical portrayal of Eve as the origin of sin and death
in the world
While biology determines our sex (male or female), culture
determines our gender (masculine or feminine)
All feminist activity, including feminist theory and literary criticism, has
as its ultimate goal to change the world by prompting gender equality
Gender issues play a part in every aspect of human production and
experience, including the production and experience of literature,
whether we are consciously aware of these issues or not.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/11/
