Explanation of Elaine Showalter's essay Towards a Feminist Poetics
Explanation of Elaine Showalter's essay Towards a Feminist Poetics Outline of Elaine Showalter's "Toward a Feminist Poetics" 1. Introduction Elaine Showalter's essay, "Toward a Feminist Poetics," sets the stage for a comprehensive exploration of feminist literary criticism. Showalter aims to establish a framework for understanding women's writing and its place in the literary canon, distinguishing between two types of feminist criticism: "feminist critique" and "gynocritics." 2. The Feminist Critique This section examines literature by male authors that portrays women and the social, political, and psychological roles they are assigned. The feminist critique focuses on identifying and challenging the stereotypes, misrepresentations, and biases present in such works. It involves analyzing how male-dominated texts shape societal attitudes towards women and contribute to their oppression. 3. Gynocritics Gynocritics, on the other han...