Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness (Elaine Showalter)

Feminist criticism: Revisionist

Showalter points out that feminist criticism is revisionist being dependent on male creative theory, i.e. the creative works and interpretations produced on the basis of male experience. Showalter thinks that women have been too much obsessed with male critical theory. Feminist critics have sought to modify, humanize, revise or attack it. There is no doubt in the fact that feminist criticism is in some sense revisionist. Feminist critics try to analyze and respond to male creative theory. This needs to be changed to achieve feminist criticism that is women centred, independent and intellectually coherent. Showalter wants feminist critics to have their own subjects, theory and voice. They should be open to women's studies and feminist 

critical.

Gynocriticism

Gynocriticism or gynocritics is the term coined by Elaine Showalter to describe a new literary project intended to construct a female framework for the analysis of women's literature.

       

      As a distinct literary tradition, Gynocritics sought to develop new models based on the study of female experience to replace male models of literary creation. Gynocriticism also examines the female struggle for identity and the social construct of gender. According to Showalter, gynocritics is the study of not only the female as a gender status but also the 'internalized consciousness' of the female. The uncovering of the female subculture and exposition of a female model is the intention of gynocriticism, comprising recognition of a distinct female canon where a female identity is sought free from the masculine definitions and oppositions.

Two distinct modes of feminist criticism:

There are two distinct modes of feminist criticism. Showalter calls the first one ‘feminist reading’ or ‘feminist critique’. It is concerned to the reading of texts to understand the image of woman in literature and to work out the beliefs and stereotypes concerned to woman highlighted and publicized by literary texts. This is a mode of interpretation and has been quite influential in decoding the relationship of women to literature.

         It is well accepted that a woman’s writing would always be feminine but defining 'feminine' has always been a problem. The second mode of feminist criticism concentrates on this definition. It analyzes women as writers. It undertakes the study of “history, styles, themes, genres, and structures of writing by women”. It also studies in details the various aspects of female creativity and female literary tradition.

Women have no wilderness in them,

They are provident instead,

Content in the tight hot cell of their hearts

To ear dusty bread

Showalter has quoted these lines from the first stanza of the poem “Women” by Louise Bogan. In this stanza, the poet says that women are not wild, but are entirely domesticated. They can make plans for the future, for they have no reason for unhappiness. They are quite happy to be victims of their emotions. It is as if these emotions constitute a prison that they cannot escape. They do not crave any change from the bread they have day in and day out for food. In other words, they do not hope for anything better at any time.