Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 104 views

    Seminar 6 - Feminism - Questions

    Uploaded by

    tomlec
    This document outlines the readings and assignments for a seminar on feminist literary theory. It includes readings from Rivkin and Ryan on feminist paradigms, Cixous on disrupting hierarchical dualisms, Irigaray on disrupting male discourse, and Gilbert and Gubar on images women writers confront. Students are asked to analyze and compare constructionist and essentialist feminist perspectives, outline Irigaray and Cixous' strategies, and describe the images and eternal types Gilbert and Gubar claim women are imprisoned by. Groups will lead discussions applying selected theories to readings of King Lear, The Bluest Eye, and Elizabeth Bishop's poem.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Seminar 6 - Feminism - Questions

    Uploaded by

    tomlec
    104 views2 pages
    This document outlines the readings and assignments for a seminar on feminist literary theory. It includes readings from Rivkin and Ryan on feminist paradigms, Cixous on disrupting hierarchical dualisms, Irigaray on disrupting male discourse, and Gilbert and Gubar on images women writers confront. Students are asked to analyze and compare constructionist and essentialist feminist perspectives, outline Irigaray and Cixous' strategies, and describe the images and eternal types Gilbert and Gubar claim women are imprisoned by. Groups will lead discussions applying selected theories to readings of King Lear, The Bluest Eye, and Elizabeth Bishop's poem.

    Original Description:

    Feminism - seminar

    Copyright

    © Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    This document outlines the readings and assignments for a seminar on feminist literary theory. It includes readings from Rivkin and Ryan on feminist paradigms, Cixous on disrupting hierarchical dualisms, Irigaray on disrupting male discourse, and Gilbert and Gubar on images women writers confront. Students are asked to analyze and compare constructionist and essentialist feminist perspectives, outline Irigaray and Cixous' strategies, and describe the images and eternal types Gilbert and Gubar claim women are imprisoned by. Groups will lead discussions applying selected theories to readings of King Lear, The Bluest Eye, and Elizabeth Bishop's poem.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    104 views2 pages

    Seminar 6 - Feminism - Questions

    Uploaded by

    tomlec
    This document outlines the readings and assignments for a seminar on feminist literary theory. It includes readings from Rivkin and Ryan on feminist paradigms, Cixous on disrupting hierarchical dualisms, Irigaray on disrupting male discourse, and Gilbert and Gubar on images women writers confront. Students are asked to analyze and compare constructionist and essentialist feminist perspectives, outline Irigaray and Cixous' strategies, and describe the images and eternal types Gilbert and Gubar claim women are imprisoned by. Groups will lead discussions applying selected theories to readings of King Lear, The Bluest Eye, and Elizabeth Bishop's poem.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Advanced Literary Theory

    Seminar 6: Feminism
    For the seminar you should all do the following: THEORY Rivkin and Ryan, Feminist Paradigms (LTA 765-69). Hlne Cixous, Sorties (on Fronter). Luce Irigaray, The Power of Discourse and the Subordination of the Feminine, (LTA 795-98). Excerpt from Gilbert and Gubars The Madwoman in the Attic (LTA 812-25). LITERATURE King Lear, The Bluest Eye, and Elizabeth Bishops Roosters (Complete Poems 35-39). Theory 1. Read the Introduction to Feminism, entitled Feminist Paradigms (LTA 765-69). Explain the difference between the so-called constructionist and essentialist perspectives within feminist literary critical discussions. Outline the arguments of each side, and name the prominent writers who represent these two different approaches. 2. Luce Irigaray holds that the subject of knowledge and reason is always defined in the western tradition as masculine. In The Power of Discourse and the Subordination of the Feminine, she suggests how women can disrupt the way in which the feminine is defined in discourse as lack, deficiency, or as imitation and negative image of the subject (LTA 796). What are the strategies Irigaray proposes for disrupting the power of male discourse? 3. In her article Sorties (LTA 578-84), Hlne Cixous calls for a breaking down of the hierarchical dual oppositions set up by male rationalist philosophy. What are some of these hierarchic opposites? How does Cixous propose that these be broken down? Outline her argument. 4. Gilbert and Gubar in The Madwoman in the Attic (LTA 812-25) focus on the issue of women writers entry into a tradition dominated by images that do violence to women. They argue: Before the woman writer can journey through the looking glass toward literary autonomy . . . she must come to terms with the images on the surface of the glass, with [] those mythic masks male artists have fastened over her human face both to lessen their dread of her inconstancy and by identifying her with the eternal types they have themselves invented to possess her more thoroughly (LTA 812). What are the images she has to come to terms with? How do G & G suggest she does this? What is the so-called inconstancy in women that men are so afraid of? Describe the eternal types that they claim woman is imprisoned by. Do you agree with their analysis?

    Theory in Practice The groups below should be prepared to initiate the discussions of the following literary works, by applying selected theoretical ideas (see Ryans readings and suggestions in LTPI for examples of how to apply different feminist theories): Gr 1: How might Cixouss and Irigarays views be used in a feminist reading of King Lear? (Consider the fact that Cordelias death is necessary for Lears redemption). Gr 2: Develop the suggestion for a feminist reading of The Bluest Eye as suggested by Ryan (on Fronter). Gr 3: Initiate a discussion of Elizabeth Bishops poem, Roosters (Poems 35-39) from a feminist perspective. Develop the reading suggested by Ryan (LTPI 146).

    You might also like