Feminist Criticism: A Revolution of Thought, A Study on Showalter’s Feminist Criticism in The Wilderness.

Hayel Mohammed Ahmed Al-hajj Department of literature, Faculty of Arts Osmania university Hyderabad, India e-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT: paper will examine what feminist theoretical view in Showalter’s essay “feminist Elaine Showalter’s Feminist Criticism criticism in the wilderness” and it will in the Wilderness is a significant work in the discuss why “feminist criticism in the field of literary criticism. It concerns with wilderness” as a revolution of thought by understanding of women centric mysteries indicating to her new ideas that she has like women’s body, psyche, language and brought to the field of literary feminism as the inter-related dynamics of these concepts. feminist critics and writer as well. Woman is surviving and struggling to make her identity in the society. The writing of the Showalter brings up a new vision to woman reflects her own experience and feminist criticism. She reviews in her essay position in the society where she exists as an lots of feminist critical views which have individual and as a female as well. been brought before her, and she explain the Showalter’s essay is a witness to her problems with such views. struggle to find a concept that can suggest (Keywords): feminism; criticism; the feminine to escape from its stereotypical wilderness; revolution; thought; associations with inferiority. Showalter has Showalter. focused on the concept of Gynocriticism to prove her opinion. INTRIDUCTION:

This paper deals with Showalter’s ideas Feminist critical theory and practice is in the essay “feminist criticism in the the product of the Feminist Movement that wilderness” as a revolution of thought. The took place during the 1960s and 1970s. It is a critique of the patriarchal mode of First, the essay highlights the need for thinking and its political approach towards feminist theories to work out a framework literature and literary criticism. The they can share. She shows that by stating patriarchal mode of thinking subordinates "An early obstacle to constructing a women to men in familial, religious, theoretical framework for feminist criticism political, economic, social, legal and artistic was the unwillingness of many women to domains. This patriarchal ideology teaches limit or bound an expressive and dynamic women to internalize these concepts in the enterprise" process of their socialization. Among those eminent feminist critics who brought up To Showalter, the real obstacle of not feminist criticism is Elaine Showalter forming theoretical framework for feminist (January 21, 1941). She is an influential criticism was because many women are American literary critic, feminist, and writer unwilling to establish that and they limited on cultural and social issues. She is one of themselves to the expressive and dynamic the founders of feminist literary criticism in style.

United States academia, developing the Then Showalter shows the rejection for concept and practice of gynocritics. both imitation and protest, she advocates Gynocriticism concerned with the specificity approaching feminist criticism from a of women’s experience and women’s cultural perspective in the current female writing. Her well known works are phase, rather than from perspective that Women’s Liberation and Literature; Female traditionally come from an endocentric Studies IV; Women’s Studies; Signs: perspective like psychoanalytic and Journal of Women; Culture and Society and biological theories, for example. feminist in A literature of their own: British Women the past have worked with within these Novelists from Bronte to Lessing (1977) traditions by revising and criticizing female

representations, or lack thereof, in the male traditions. “Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness” as a Revolution of Thought in Feminist Showalter says, " A cultural theory Criticism acknowledges that there are important differences between women as writers: class, race, nationality, and history are literary determinants as significant as the same time exist within the male gender. Nonetheless, women's culture forms tradition, but no which it is not dependent a collective experience within the cultural and to which it is not answerable. whole, an experience that binds women Showalter continues to argue that there writers to each other over time and space" are essentially two kinds of feminist She doesn’t advocate replacing theories. The first concerns itself with the psychoanalysis, for example, with cultural women as a reader and may be called anthropology, rather, she suggests that feminist critic. The second concerns itself approaching woman's writing from a with the women as a writer and may be cultural perspective is one among many called Gynocritics. It deals with the women valid perspectives that will uncover female as the producer of the textural meaning. traditions. However, cultural anthropology Showalter bases her theory on four models – and social history are especially fruitful biological criticism, linguistic criticism, because " Cultural anthropology and social psycho-analytical criticism and the theory of history can perhaps offer us a terminology women’s culture. and a diagram of women's cultural Therefore, Showalter suggests situation". But feminist critics must use this gynocritics theories which are centered on concept in relation to what women actually the experience of women as writers. write, not in relation to a theoretical, Gynocriticism is a term coined in the political, metaphoric, or visionary ideal of seventies by Elian Showalter to describe a what women ought to write." new literary project intended to construct "a She is going on to not advocate a framework for the analysis of woman separation of the female tradition. She literature". By expanding the historical study argues that woman must work both inside of woman writers as a distinct literary and outside the male tradition tradition. Gynocritics sought to develop new simultaneously. Showalter says the most models based on the study of flame constrictive approach to future feminist experience to the replace male of literary theory and criticism lies in the focus on criticisms. gynocriticim was designed as a" nurturing a new feminine cultural second phase" in feminist criticism. Turning perspective within a feminist tradition that at to force on, and interrogation of female authorship, images, the feminine experience After her coining the term of and ideology and the history development of gynocriticism she shows the perishing of the female literary tradition. literary critics in the wilderness “Matthew Arnold also thought that literary critics Gynocriticism also examines the female might perish in the wilderness before they struggle for identity and the social construct reached the promised land of of gender. According to Elian Showalter, disinterestedness."(308). She shows how genocritics is the study on not only the Arnold considers that all literary critics female as a gender status but also the might perish in the wilderness in their search internalized consciousness of the female. of the promised land. Arnold seems here to The uncovering of the female subculture and refer to the satisfactory judgment of exposition of the female model is intension criticism. Similarly, Showalter seems to of the genocriticism. Comprising have the view on feminist criticism in recognition of a distinct female canon where particular. a female identity is sought free from the masculine definition and opposition. She continues to show that the critics seem to be still wandering in the wilderness Gynocriticism accordingly challenged a since there is still disinterestedness of the Freudian psychoanalytic perspective theory of criticism. Moreover, the situation whereby the female inherently suffers envy of criticism is still bound exclusively to the of men and feeling of an adequacy and masculine domain. She states that clearly by injustice, combined of feeling of intellectual saying: inferiority. Arguing that male phatic produce itself create a female consciousness that “But if, in the 1980s, feminist demands a critique and the prejudice against literary critics are still wandering in the wilderness, we are in good the female incites a specific noise and gets company; for, as Geoffrey Hartman attributed to the female. Gynocriticism tells us, all criticism is in the stressed that this prejudice has concealed the wilderness. Feminist critics may be startled to find ourselves in this female literary tradition to the point of band of theoretical pioneers, since imitating the masculine. in the American literary tradition the wilderness has been an exclusively masculine domain. Yet between feminist ideology and the

liberal ideal of disinterestedness lies basis; it has been an empirical the wilderness of theory, which we orphan in the theoretical storm. In too must make our home.” (308) 1975, I was persuaded that no theoretical manifesto could This quote shows what Showalter aims adequately account for varied at by saying " we too must make our home", methodologies and ideologies which she states here that feminist criticism should called themselves feminist reading or writing.” (308) not continue to be in the wilderness. They should make their own theoretical views of Showalter, then, moves further to show criticism.“Women have no wilderness in real examples of feminist critics by them, they are provident instead, content in commenting on Virginia Woolf who, to the tight hot cell of their hearts, to eat dusty Showalter, devoted herself to expressive bread”. Louise Bogan, ‘Women’ Showalter style. She shows that Virginia Woolf in her opines that feminist literary critics are “still essay represented her life experience, and wandering in the wilderness” and that the how she didn't allow to the library. Her wilderness of theory lies between feminist writing style is" reflexive". By showing this ideology and the liberal ideal of example Showalter asks the other female disinterestedness. She is of the view that the writers to change the style of writing. To feminist critic’s assignment of interpretation make ourselves as equal to the masculine of works has to be satisfied with Pluralism. domain. What Showalter condemns in This aspect of her essay concludes with the Virginia Woolf's essay is the reflexive message to the readers that, feminist personal writing and presentation of her own criticism is supposed to possess its own personal experiences rather than bringing up subject, lay the foundation of its own system new critical views to improve feminist and the most is its own voice. criticism. Hence, Woolf has made such presentation of the essay in personal She goes on to show feminist criticism reflection, Showalter considered this not to lacks "theoretical basis". She states that till be a real contribution to the development of the time there has not been any theoretical feminist criticism. To Showalter feminist manifesto for feminist criticism. She states criticism does not need any personal that clearly as: reflections rather it needs to a set of rules “Until very recently, feminist and views to structure a way of judgment to criticism has not had a theoretical feminist discourse. Recalling in A Room of One's Own To conclude, Showalter thinks that how she had been prohibited from women have been too much dominated with entering the university library, the male critical theory. Feminist critics have symbolic sanctuary of the male logos, Virginia Woolf wisely sought to modify it. this paper shows many observed that while it is 'unpleasant new ideas which has been brought by Elian to be locked out . . . it is worse, Showalter to the field of literary criticism perhaps, to be locked in.' Advocates of the anttheoretical position traced and feminist criticism as I mentioned. their descent from Woolf and from other feminist visionaries, such as Mary Daly, Adrienne Rich and

Marguerite Duras, who had satirized the sterile narcissism of male scholarship and celebrated women's fortunate exclusion from its REFERENCES: patriarchal ideology. (309) Elaine Showalter (1981) “Feminist Criticism This leads Showalter to show that in the Wilderness” Critical Inquiry, Vol. 8, feminist criticism has become an act of No. 2, Writing and Sexual Difference. resistance to theory since the women feminist critics themselves have cared on the Tade A. Z. et.al (2012) Critical Theory. reflexive style and the dynamicity of Shivaji University, Published by: Dr. D. V. asserting self-authority. Therefore, Muley Registrar, Kolhapur-416 004. Showlater states: (Maharashtra)

“criticism was an act of resistance to CHAUDHARY, KRISHMA. ELAINE theory, a confrontation with existing SHOWALTER’S CRITICAL canons and judgments, what EXAMINATION OF THE ESSAY - Josephine Donovan calls 'a mode of “FEMINIST CRITICISM IN WILDERNESS”. Research Journal of negation within a fundamental English Language and Literature dialectic'. As Judith Fetterley (RJELAL)Vol.1.Issue.4.;2013. ISSN 2321 declared in her book, The Resisting – 3108. Web15/Jan/2017. Reader, feminist criticism has been characterized by 'a resistance to codification and a refusal to have its parameters prematurely set.” (309)