【精选】W8-Feminist Approaches.pptVIP

Critical Approaches to Literature: An Introduction (7) Hao Guilian, Ph.D Yunnan Normal University Spring, 2012 Feminist Criticism The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. Examines ways in which literature reinforces加强 or undermines破坏 the oppression压迫 of women Economically Socially Politically Psychologically Roots of prejudice against women According to feminist criticism, the roots of prejudice against women have long been embedded in Western culture. Some say it originated with biblical narrative where the fall of man is blamed on Eve, not Adam. Ancient Greeks (Aristotle) “The man is by nature superior, and the female inferior; and the one rules and the other is ruled.” Darwin (The Descent of Man – 1871) “women are of a characteristic of … a past and lower state of civilization.” Therefore, feminism’s goal is to change these degrading可耻的 views of women so that all women will realize they are not a “non-significant Other” and will realize that each woman is a valuable person possessing控制 the same privileges and rights as every man. Feminist Criticism This current criticism, in America, England, France, and other countries, is not a unitary单一 theory or procedure. The various feminisms, however, share certain assumptions and concepts that underlie the diverse ways that individual critics explore the factor of sexual difference and privilege in the production, the form and content, the reception, and the critical analysis and evaluation of works of literature: (1) The basic view is that Western civilization is pervasively patriarchal家族的 (ruled by the father)—that is, it is male-centered and controlled, and is organized and conducted管理 in such a way as to subordinate使 居下位 women to men in all cultural domains. From the Hebrew Bible and Greek philosophic writings to the present, the female tends to be defined by negative reference提及 to the male as the human norm, hence as an Other, or kind of non-man, by her lack of the identifying male