About Elaine Showalters Theory of Gynocriticism

Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Gender Studies, grade: 3, , language: English, abstract: The present essay is an attempt to explore Showalter's feminist critical philosophy and the corresponding practice of such an innovative approach in literary feminism. It tries to reflect upon her critical theorization and practice, and recognize the credibility and aftereffect of both among contemporary authors, critics and readers. It investigates whether Showalter's critical approach is a feminist social critique, i.e. an analysis of women writing in a patriarchal culture, or a development of a feminist aesthetics, i.e. an explanation of how writing by women discloses a distinctively female discourse. It looks into what makes her feminist criticism best and most importantly characterized, and her literary framework for the analysis of women's literature.

Valiur Rahaman is Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Central University of Rajasthan, India. He studied English Literature and specialized Literary Theory & Criticism. He defended his doctoral research on Jacques Derrida.