Literature and Feminism is an exemplary new introduction to feminist literary criticism and theory which assumes no previous knowledge of the field. Clear, informative and carefully structured, it provides a thorough guide to, and path through, one of the most important, but also most difficult, areas of contemporary literary studies.
Preface and Acknowledgements. Introduction: Why 'literature and feminism'?.
Part I: Literature?.
1. Re-vision: Reading as a Woman.
2. Challenging the Canon and the Literary Establishment.
3. Writing by Women.
Part II:.
4. The Construction of Gender: Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan.
5. Writing as a Woman: Helen Cixous, Luce Irigaray and Ecriture Feminine.
6. Identities in Process: Poststructuralism, Julia Kristeva and Intertextuality.
7. A Return to Women in History: Lesbian, Black and Class.
Criticism.
Notes.
Glossary.
Bibliography.
Index
