Feminist Criticism

Begin this unit by viewing our presentation on Feminist Criticism

Slides and Notes for the presentation on Feminist Criticism

Further Reading:

• Mary Wollstonecraft - A Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792

• Simone de Beauvoir - Le Deuxième Sexe (The Second Sex), 1949

• Julia Kristeva - About Chinese Women, 1977

• Elaine Showalter - A Literature of Their Own, 1977; "Toward a Feminist Poetics," 1979

• Deborah E. McDowell - "New Directions for Black Feminist Criticism," 1980

• Alice Walker - In Search of Our Mother's Gardens, 1983

• Lillian S. Robinson - "Treason out Text: Feminist Challenges to the Literary Canon," 1983

• Camille Paglia - Sexual Personae: The Androgyne in Literature and Art, 1990

Foundational Questions of Feminist Criticism

• Consider stereotypical representations of women as the beloved, mothers, virgins, whores, and/or goddesses. Does the text refer to, uphold, or resist any of these stereotypes? How?

• What roles have been assigned to the men and women in the text? Are the roles stereotypical? Do gender roles conflict with personal desires?

• Does the text paint a picture of gender relations? If so, how would you describe gender relations in the text? On what are they based? What sustains them? What causes conflict between men and women?

• Are gender relations in the text celebrated? Denigrated? Mocked? Mystified? If so, how?

Maya Angelou, "Still I Rise"

Maya Angelou, (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three essays, and several books of poetry and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees.  Angelou's series of seven autobiographies focuses on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.

The poem "Still I Rise," is about racial legacy, struggle, and overcoming obstacles. Angelou talks about being born in oppression and how she never gave up and stood resilient against her oppressors. The frequent use of "I'll rise" shows her determination and resilience.

Synchronous Class Activity: Read Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" for discussion in class. With your groupmates, consider your assigned foundational question of Feminist Criticism. Respond with textual examples on the Google doc.

Margaret Atwood, " Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing"

Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight children's books, two graphic novels, and several small press editions of both poetry and fiction. Atwood has won numerous awards and honors for her writing, including two Booker Prizes, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Governor General's Award, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Princess of Asturias Awards, and the National Book Critics and PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Awards. A number of her works have been adapted for film and television.

Atwood's works encompass a variety of themes, including gender and identity, religion and myth, the power of language, climate change, and "power politics." Her poems are inspired by myths and fairy tales, which interested her from a very early age.

In “Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing,” Atwood takes the mythical figure of Helen of Troy and places her in a contemporary strip club. Atwood's Helen confesses how she feels about her objectification by others and tries to empower herself by remembering her connection to divinity.

Helen of Troy

If you don't have much background in Greek mythology, I suggest you look at this brief video that tells the story of Helen of Troy. You'll need to know about that Helen to understand the Helen that Atwood crafts in her poem.

"Goddess or Dancer: Mythological Female Figures in Margaret Atwood's Morning in the Burned House" by Ana Raspini

Mythological figures are recurrent references in Margaret Atwood’s writing, and they frequently appear in a revisited way, questioning the canon and classical mythology itself and functioning as complex metaphors of contemporary society. The present study analyzes,  under the light of feminist literary criticism, the recurrence of three mythological figures in a poetry collection by Margaret Atwood entitled Morning in the Burned House (1995). The analysis aims at verifying if and how they can be taken as a self-reflexive parody of the paradoxical condition of women in contemporary Western society.