Contemporary Literary Theory & Feminism

Contemporary Literary Theory & Feminism
SOUND BORING?

Agenda POSTMODERNISM LITERARY THEORY New Criticism Structuralism
Archetypal / myth criticism Marxist / ideological Psychoanalytical Poststructuralism Deconstruction theory Cultural materialism Feminism Queer theory Postcolonialism BRIEF SUBNAIL DISCUSSIONS OF THE MAJOR SCHOOLS OF THOUGHTS AND LEADING THINKERS VERY TOP LEVEL It’s about more than finding meaning in a text Current theories of language, knowledge and the self Reflects a recent revolution in the humanities A complete overhauling of long-accepted Western assumptions and biases Literature is power To help you become citizens of the postmodern world THESE ARE THEORIES OF READINGS A FEMINIST READING A DECONSTRUCTIVIST READING

Western Humanist View of Language
What Is Language? Western Humanist View of Language as People are the same everywhere There are universal laws and truths Knowledge is objective, independent of culture, gender, etc. Language is a man-made tool that refers to real things / truths I, the subject, speak language I have a discernible self The self is the center of existence THIS PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE SUGGESTED A PHILSOPHY OF LANGUAGE AND HOW WE VIEW OURSELVES TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

Literary Theory

Universality vs. localism
Modernity PostModern Literature as expression of universal truths contained in archetypal metaphors Literature as an ideological expression of local, culturally constructed “truths” that are highly fluid and dependent on the reader’s perspective in time and place The encyclopedia Web Architecture of NY LA and Vegas Phallic order Queer sexual identities POSTMODERNISM

Universality vs. localism
Modernity PostModern Art is representational Language and imagery can be used to evoke the “real” Metaphysics of presence (I, the speaker, am present and impose order on the universe; presence or being is central to all systems of thought) Language is a system of relations from which the referent is absent Signification without representation I am just a part of the signifying system of language; language speaks me The encyclopedia Web Architecture of NY LA and Vegas Phallic order Queer sexual identities POSTMODERNISM

Structuralist PostStructuralist
Universality vs. localism Structuralist PostStructuralist Universal meaning Meaning is culturally independent Culture inseparable from meaning The encyclopedia Web Architecture of NY LA and Vegas Phallic order Queer sexual identities POSTMODERNISM

The PostModern Turn The white-Western-male view of the world is dead
Now What? The PostModern Turn The white-Western-male view of the world is dead Truth, identity, gender, etc. are social constructs, contingent and local It’s all relative and pluralistic The author is dead. The reader rules. All literature is propaganda. White western male--at least reduced to only one of many possibilities The white Western male view of the world is dead New Criticism & Structuralism are flawed We now have a new set of “lenses” to view the world We understand the importance of being suspicious (literature is not necessarily sincere) Hidden texts, ideologies, gender bias, philo. Bia wary of grand narratives--K&K--know it alls We recognize that truth, identity, gender, etc. are social constructs, contingent and local We recognize the power of discourse How we are all shaped by language, pop culture, advertising, education, films, TV, music POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Literary Theory THE AUTHOR Three Perspectives Author is king
Need to understand the author’s life The world in which he lived His pronouncements about his intent Letters and correspondence

Literary Theory THE AUTHOR THE TEXT Three Perspectives
The text is sacred Meaning is in the text Author may not have achieved what he intended Work is the result of his subconscious More there than he realizes LANGUAGE speaks the individual

Literary Theory THE AUTHOR THE TEXT THE READER Three Perspectives
Reader is king or at least a co-partner in the reader/writing process Produces meaning Every reader creates a new text with every reading Reader’s position in relation to the text Social class Time in history Very postmodern The importance of the observer situated in a specific time and place Interpretations of texts will change with time Just as our understanding of history Depends on the observor

Celebrating Diversity
Literary Theory Different constructs of reality “Lenses” through which we see the world ? The forces of postmodernism will prevent will ultimately defeat any power trying to corral people into a single world view. Afghanistan POSTMODERNISM

Ancient History Aristotle ( B.C.) as POETICS: Mimetic Theory (learn through example & representation) History represents the particular Poetry represents the universal Complete and unified action, beginning middle and end, short memorable stories Good plot: reversal of fortune Anagnorsis: recognition of an unknown truth Tragic mimesis: Great characters that evoke pity and fear Comedy: Flawed characters LITERARY THEORY IS AS OLD AS ARISTOTLE Purpose of literature was to teach Learn through example and representation Literature represents universal truths which could be captured Good literature must follow certain rules

PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM
Hidden Structures Structuralism The forces governing human behavior are hidden but detectable Search for underlying hidden structures Science: grand unifying theory Psychology Sociology Anthropology: universal archetypes Language ALSO GAVE RISE TO SOMETHING CALLED STRUCTURALISM THE DESIRE TO SEARCH FOR HIDDEN MEANINGS A FEW DIE-HARD INTELLECTUALS WANTED TO RESTORE ORDER AND FIND UNIVERSAL MEANINGS PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

The Sanctity of the Text
New Criticism (1950s) as View literature as a valid form of knowledge and as a communicator of truths inaccessible via scientific and other discourse A work of literature has an organic structure Objective way of analyzing literature Author’s intentions are irrelevant The meaning is in the text (textual criticism) FIRST MAJOR LITERARY THEORY MOVEMENT THAT GAINED ACCEPTANCE BY US ACAMEDICS WAS NEW CRITICISM TRIED TO ELEVATE THE STUDY OF LITERATURE TO THAT OF SCIENCE, AND USED OBJECTIVE SCIENTIFIC METHODS Work is as an object in itself View literature as a valid form of knowledge and as a communicator of truths inaccessible via scientific and other discourse Meaning within the imagery and symbolism of the self-contained work Author’s intentions are irrelevant A poem means what it means, independent of author or reader’s feelings Objective way of analyzing it Tensions, paradoxes, ambivalences, resolution; organic structure Words in literary text are slippery—never reducible to a final interpretation TEXTUAL THEORY

Archetypal Criticism as CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS French anthropologist
The Savage Mind Archetypal Criticism as CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS French anthropologist Took Saussure’s theories about language and applied them to the study of myth and culture Man obeys laws that are inherent in the brain Myths are not made by an individual—but by the collective human consciousness Next major figure who built upon SAUSSURE Refused to see Western civilization as uniqu 30 years studying North and South American Indians STRUCTURALISM

The Grammar of Myth Claude Levi-Strauss Every culture organizes knowledge into binary pairs Different myths are all variations on a number of very basic themes A kind of grammar for narratives inherent in the human mind Certain constant universal structures called mythemes Structuralism decentralizes the individual (the subject) Meaning is not a private experience Product of certain shared systems of signification STRUCTURALISM

Claude Levi-Strauss LANGUAGE predates the individual
The Same Old Stories Claude Levi-Strauss LANGUAGE predates the individual REALITY is a product of language Jonah and Christ are the same story Thus all myths are timeless Hero needs to overcome an obstacle A story about a guy who loves a girl who is inaccessible Woman wants to make chicken soup has no chicken SAME STORY: incomplete/completeness STRUCTURALISM

Structuralism Literature reflects universal psyche of the human mind
Language Creates Us Structuralism Literature reflects universal psyche of the human mind Language and culture produce subjects (the “I” is decentered) Binary oppositions (organizing thought patterns that are based upon universal laws) Good / evil Spiritual / earthly Masculine / feminine Rational / emotional Community / individual desire 1. Language produces subject THERE IS AN UNCONSCIOUS INFRASTUCTURE WORDS AND SIGNS ARE NOT INDEPENDENT BUT CONNECTED TO A SYSTEM OF RELATIONS BETWEEN SIGNIFIERS AND MEANINGS STRUCTURALISM

PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM
Repressed Truths Sigmund Freud ( ) as KEY CONCEPTS: Id, Superego, Ego Resolution of Oedipus complex > the Self Repression Dreams: displacement and condensation (metaphor and metonomy) Neurosis and psychosis Transference LIMITATION: Freud talks about resolution of the Oedipus complex as something the individual achieves on his own. Mother--love Recognition of father which threatens the child which puts a stop to the Oedipus complex and projects child into real world Keep ego in check and id and superego under control Accepts ego as real The unconscious has a threatening aspect Goal to achieve harmony of ego NO MENTION OF SOCIETY PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Behavior Modification PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM
B. F. Skinner ( ) as We can’t know the “mind”--so why worry about it? Focus on behavior & what is observable Perceptions, thoughts, images, feelings are subjective and immune to measurement Operant conditioning (aversive & reinforcing stimuli) Skinner Box-- “rat in a cage” Walden II (utopian vision) PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

IDEOLOGICAL CRITICISM
Class Struggle Karl Marx ( ) as Communist Manifesto Saw capitalism as a driving force of history Predicted that it would conquer the world Lead to globalization of national economies and cultures Would divide world between “haves” and “have-nots” Class struggle Advocated abolition of private property, traditional marriage, concentration of political power in the hands of the proletariat ANOTHER STRUCTURED WAY OF LOOKING AT THE WORLD WAS MARXIST ALL KNOW WHO KARL MARX WAS IDEOLOGICAL CRITICISM

IDEOLOGICAL CRITICISM
Text as Power Karl Marx ( ) Questions a Marxist literary critic would ask: Who was the text written for? Is it a “power play” on the part of one class to dominate another? What is the underlying ideology? Does the main character affirm or resist bourgeoise values? Whose story gets told? Who is left out? In what way are characters or groups of people “commodified”? Role of media & consumerism? IDEOLOGICAL CRITICISM IDEOLOGICAL

Jacques Lacan (1901-81) (Transitional)
Language Is Us Jacques Lacan ( ) (Transitional) as Self and identity are social constructions. Our unconscious is just not inside us. It is formed by language which is outside us and constructs our sense of self. Language, our parents, the unconscious, the symbolic order represent the OTHER. FREUD--FOCUS ON INDIVIDUAL PSYCHE & FAMILY LACAN--TAKES FREUD AND EXTENDS THEORY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS TO OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHERS AND SOCIETY AS A WHOLE PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

We Want Our Mothers Jacques Lacan ( ) as IMAGINARY PHASE: One with mother (Oedipal) MIRROR STAGE: We recognize a separate being in mirror, feel “lack” for mother; recognition of OTHER but not SELF; birth of the never-fulfilled ego (ideal self-image) SYMBOLIC (Oedipal crisis): World of language and authority; Father rules; reason and order; unconscious is formed; emergence of desire REAL: Ultra-conscious experiences that lie beyond Language such as death, terror, ecstasy, love; inexpressible; Kant’s “thing in itself”; the complete unattainable world LACAN SAW THE INDIVIDUAL PROGRESSING THROUGH VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT FATHER NOT BIOLOGICAL FATHER IT IS THE PATRIARCHAL ASPECT OF SOCIETY WITH LAWS AND RULES PENIS--FRUED--WHAT WOMEN DO NOT HAVE PHALLIS--SYMBOLIC--LACAN--THE ATTRIBUTE OF PATRIARCHAL POWER THAT REPRESENTS POWER AND IS THE SIGNIFIER OF AN ORIGINAL DESIRE FOR A PERFECT UNION WITH THE OTHER--AND OF THE WHOLENESS WE LACK NEITHER MEN OR WOMAN HAVE IT PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

We Want Our Mothers Jacques Lacan ( ) as Phallogocentric view of life Male bias of authority God the Father We move from the “lost plenitude of the originary mother-infant symbiotic state” to a state dominated by Language and Logos (reason, knowledge, systems of order) This provokes a sense of desire Feminists based theories upon Lacan LACAN SAW THE INDIVIDUAL PROGRESSING THROUGH VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT FATHER NOT BIOLOGICAL FATHER IT IS THE PATRIARCHAL ASPECT OF SOCIETY WITH LAWS AND RULES PENIS--FRUED--WHAT WOMEN DO NOT HAVE PHALLIS--SYMBOLIC--LACAN--THE ATTRIBUTE OF PATRIARCHAL POWER THAT REPRESENTS POWER AND IS THE SIGNIFIER OF AN ORIGINAL DESIRE FOR A PERFECT UNION WITH THE OTHER--AND OF THE WHOLENESS WE LACK NEITHER MEN OR WOMAN HAVE IT PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

We Want Our Mothers Jacques Lacan ( ) as IMAGINARY: Privileges fantasies and dreams SYMBOLIC: Tries to make sense of the sensory through cultural authority, policeable by the intellect (Freud tried to translate the Imaginary Order into the conceptual Symbolic Order) LACAN SAW THE INDIVIDUAL PROGRESSING THROUGH VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT FATHER NOT BIOLOGICAL FATHER IT IS THE PATRIARCHAL ASPECT OF SOCIETY WITH LAWS AND RULES PENIS--FRUED--WHAT WOMEN DO NOT HAVE PHALLIS--SYMBOLIC--LACAN--THE ATTRIBUTE OF PATRIARCHAL POWER THAT REPRESENTS POWER AND IS THE SIGNIFIER OF AN ORIGINAL DESIRE FOR A PERFECT UNION WITH THE OTHER--AND OF THE WHOLENESS WE LACK NEITHER MEN OR WOMAN HAVE IT PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

The Unconscious As Other PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM
Jacques Lacan ( ) as There is no separation between self and society. Society inhabits and informs the individual. Humans continue to look for an imaginary wholeness and unity We have a perpetual lack of wholeness (perennial lack). PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Jacques Lacan (1901-81) as We constantly negate our identities.
The Unconscious As Other Jacques Lacan ( ) as We constantly negate our identities. This is what life is about. How we live and grow intellectually. Based on Hegel Thesis, antithesis, synthesis The thesis is the given state of things. … THIS COURSE Come into this course with a set of given facts and beliefs. Perhaps about how to read a poem. I negate your world view. Your comfort zone. Shatter your thesis. You have to negate what you know and reform your knowledge and your sense of self. PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Rejection of Essentialism
Poststructuralism as POSTMODERN LITERARY THEORY Not a unified school: A group of theoretical positions Self-reflexive discourse that is “aware of the tentativeness, slipperiness, ambiguities and complex interrelations between texts and meanings.” (Lye) Rejects: Totalizing view All phenomenon under one concept Essentialist concept Reality independent of language Foundationalism Stable signifying systems rooted in human thought POSTMODERNISM

All Truths Are Cultural
Poststructuralism as STRUCTURALISM The individual is sacred The mind as the realm of meaning Universal laws and essences Inherent universal meanings that precede the text POSTSTRUCTURALISM The “subject” is a cultural construct Mind created from interactions as situated symbolic beings Truth is “local”; language creates reality Meaning is intertextual, determined by social discourse; changes with history POSTMODERNISM

Poststructuralism as Meanings are often hidden in the texts
A Rose is Not a Cow Poststructuralism as Meanings are often hidden in the texts Real meaning can be unlocked by deconstructing the text Must consider psychological, cultural, ideological, gender and other “power positions” of author, characters, intended readers Words are an endless chain of signifiers, pointing to nothing but themselves POSTMODERNISM

PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM
The Author Is Dead Roland Barthes ( ) as “The author is dead.” The text is a “multi-dimensional space in which a variety of writings, none of them original, blend and clash.” The reader “produces” a text on his or her own terms, forging meanings from “what has already been read, seen, done, lived.” A NAME YOU SHOULD KNOW PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Down with Descartes Jaques Derrida (1930-) as Deconstruction is a theory of reading which aims to undermine the logic of opposition within texts. Skeptical postmodernist Attacks fundamental principles of Western philosophy Influenced by Nietzsche and Heidegger Attacks from a structuralist foundation Agrees that meaning is not inherent in signs Strongly disagrees with bifurcation of structuralism D is a serious critique of representation itself How difficult to tell the truth About language, the impossibility of representation. Assault on logocentricism POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) Nietzsche influence:
Language as Metaphor Jaques Derrida (1930-) Nietzsche influence: Language is radically metaphorical in nature Every idea originates through an equating of the unequal Metaphors are essentially groundless All assumptions must be questioned Must consider vast plurality of “wills to power” ROBERT FROST “I HAVE COME TO BELIEVE THAT ALL OF THINKING IS METAPHOR.” POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) as STRUCTURALISM is inherently flawed:
The Dangers of Dualism Jaques Derrida (1930-) as STRUCTURALISM is inherently flawed: Argues that all STRUCTURES have an implied center All systems have binary oppositions One part more important than another (good/evil, male/female) This is logocentrism—basic to all Western thought since Plato Leads to an implied humanistic value-laden system of thought We view the world with rigid boundaries Derrida wants to demonstrate that they are not so rigid Dark is not a polar opposite—it is part of light—contains a trace of it in its very meaning Wants to deconstruct these meanings Because they inhibit richer, complex interpretations, and nuances of existences, ambiguities, uncertainties, different possibilities DENIES THE METAPHYSICS OF PRESENCE THE REALM OF THE INDEPENDENT SIGNIFIED DOES NOT EXIST By deconstructing, basic units of logic are shown how they contradict themselves. Sees all writing as a complex, historical cultural process rooted in the relations of texts to each other and in the institutions and conventions of writing. Language operates in subtle and often contradictory ways. Certainty will always elude us. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) as LANGUAGE & MEANING
What’s Black Is White Jaques Derrida (1930-) as LANGUAGE & MEANING A meaning is always temporal and part of a network of meanings, part of a chain of meanings in a chain or system to which it belongs which is always changing. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) as THE SELF AS FICTION
Viv Le Difference Jaques Derrida (1930-) as THE SELF AS FICTION “Our self-presence is a fiction, we are in a constant state of differing and deferrence. As our center is not really a center, our self-presence is a fiction we create to disguise the play of opposition and displacement within which we live.” POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) as INTERTEXTUALITY:
Ecriture Jaques Derrida (1930-) as INTERTEXTUALITY: All texts refer to other texts (just as signs refer to other signs). No interpretations are final. The authority of any text is provisional. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Signifier Signifier Signifier
No Final Signified Jaques Derrida (1930-) as STRUCTURALISM Signified Signifier DECONSTRUCTION Signified Signifier Signifier Signifier POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) as DECONSTRUCTIVE INTERPRETATION:
The Unsaid Truth Jaques Derrida (1930-) as DECONSTRUCTIVE INTERPRETATION: Find binary opposition and implied center Refute claims Find contradictions, self-imposed logic that is faulty Focus on what text is saying is other than what it appears to be saying Look for gaps, margins, figures, echoes, digressions, discontinuities Male rationalism Female emotions POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Deconstructing Rousseau
Jaques Derrida (1930-) as BINARY OPPOSITIONS Nature / culture Health / disease Purity / contamination Simplicity / complexity Good / evil Speech / writing ASSUMED CENTER Nature is good WHAT HE IS REALLY SAYING Theme of lost innocence Naïve romantic illusion Western guilt over colonization TEXT PROVES OPPOSITE OF WHAT IT SAYS SURFACE LEVEL THE LIE WESTERN CIVILIZATION IS LIBERAL, HUMAN, AND ADMIRES ALLPEOPLE--ANTI RACISTS BENEATH THE SURFACE (THE UNINTELLIGIBLE LIE) WESTERN RACISM AND GUILT POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Male Domination Jaques Derrida (1930-) as Exclusions and repressions as important as what is said—in fact are more central: they point to the contingency of a central part What is not said provides clues to author’s real views of power Male Western authorities have encoded within their work silence about women and others (rationalized exploitation of others without knowing it). POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Man can find truth in nature.
Under Erasure Jaques Derrida (1930-) as Man can find truth in nature. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) FREEDOM FROM TYRANNY
Richness of Language Jaques Derrida (1930-) FREEDOM FROM TYRANNY Meaning circulates by difference, by being other. It is creative and inventive. Affirms multiplicity, paradoxes, richness of our life . Frees ourselves from tyrannies of univocal readings. Opposes humanism, which puts man at the center. One can talk about ideas and work with views that man is at the center only by placing them “under erasure.” Closer to reality, less artificial POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Destruction is Good Jaques Derrida (1930-) as "If anything is destroyed in a deconstructive reading, it is not the text, but the claim to unequivocal domination of one mode of signifying over another. A deconstructive reading is a reading which analyses the specificity of a text's critical difference from itself." POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Fuzzy Reality Jaques Derrida (1930-) as Some literature that recognizes the highly mediated nature of our experience, and are playful, ironic, explicitly intertextual and deconstruct themselves may be closer to reality. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

What is Truth? Jaques Derrida (1930-) “What, therefore, is truth? A mobile army of metaphors, metonymies, anthropomorphisms; truths are illusions of which one has forgotten that they are illusions…” -- Nietzsche ROBERT FROST “I HAVE COME TO BELIEVE THAT ALL OF THINKING IS METAPHOR.” POSTSTRUCTURALISM

A Long Way from Aristotle
Jaques Derrida (1930-) TRADITIONAL THEORIES Mimetic Didactic Expressive of truths DECONSTRUCTION The author is dead History and literature become processes of intertextuality The careful reader is king ROBERT FROST “I HAVE COME TO BELIEVE THAT ALL OF THINKING IS METAPHOR.” POSTSTRUCTURALISM

You Are What You Consume
Jean Baudrillard (1929-) Cultural materialist Consumer objects = signs that differentiate the population Our postmodern society is no longer real. It is a simulation of the real. Mass media & consumerism have created a new myth of reality that we accept as real. We live in a state of hyper-reality. Simulacra: a copy without an origina TV news--always the same images Always in the present--never experience the past anymore We become numb to the content and message The medium is the message POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jean Baudrillard (1929-) America is a spectacle
The Myth of America Jean Baudrillard (1929-) America is a spectacle An illusionary paradise TV is the world Advertising gives consumers illusion of freedom “All is well” is the party line Illusion perpetuated by media & culture DISNEYLAND CNN PROBLEMS Doesn’t differentiate between different type of media All media bad Media is the arena of public discourse, where issues are resolved and consensus achieved Moral nihilism POSTSTRUCTURALISM

The Matrix Jean Baudrillard (1929-) Simulacrum: a copy of a copy whose relation to the model has become so attenuated that it can no longer properly be said to be a copy. It stands on its own as a copy without a model. “The airless atmosphere has asphyxiated the referent, leaving us satellites in aimless orbit around an empty center. We breathe an ether of floating images that no longer bear a relation to any reality whatsoever.” DISNEYLAND CNN PROBLEMS Doesn’t differentiate between different type of media All media bad Media is the arena of public discourse, where issues are resolved and consensus achieved Moral nihilism POSTSTRUCTURALISM

The Matrix Jean Baudrillard (1929-) In The Matrix, people “are living what has already been lived and reproduced with no reality anymore but that of the cannibalized image” (Paul Martin). Neo hides illegal software in Baudrillard’s book, Simulacra and Simulation (like Western gun fighters hid guns in Bibles). The virtual replaces the real. DISNEYLAND CNN PROBLEMS Doesn’t differentiate between different type of media All media bad Media is the arena of public discourse, where issues are resolved and consensus achieved Moral nihilism POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Feminist Literary Theory
The Second Sex Feminist Literary Theory SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR ( ) The Second Sex Questioned the “othering” of women by Western philosophy Rediscovery of forgotten women’s literature Revolutionary advocacy of sexual politics Questioning of underlying phallocentric, Western, rational ideologies Pluralism: gender, sexual, cultural, ethnicity, postcolonial perspectives Another important movement of PM No longer male-centric world POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Gender As a Social Construct Feminist Literary Theory Exorcise the male mind Deconstructs logocentricism of male discourse Sees gender as a cultural construct So are stereotypes Focus on unique problems of feminism: History and themes of women literature Female language Psycho-dynamics of female creativity POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Feminizing Freud Feminist Literary Theory JULIA KRISTEVA (1941-) Psychologist, linguist & novelist Influenced by Barthes, Freud & Lacan “Dismantles all ideologies,” including feminism Does not consider herself a feminist Disagrees with “patriarchal” views of Freud and Lacan Pre-Oedipal maternal body source of semiotic aspect of language Columbia U, lives in France Written on theology, semiotics, philosophy, politics, 2 novels Difficult to read POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Feminizing Freud Feminist Literary Theory SEMIOTIC + SYMBOLIC = SIGNIFICATION SEMIOTIC The bodily drive as it is discharged in signification Associated with the rhythms, tones, and movement Associated with the maternal body Columbia U, lives in France Written on theology, semiotics, philosophy, politics, 2 novels Difficult to read POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Feminizing Freud Feminist Literary Theory SYMBOLIC Associated with the grammar and structure of signification. Makes reference possible. The logic of signification is already operating within the materiality of the body. There is a maternal regulation or law which prefigures the paternal law which Freudian psychoanalysts have maintained is necessary for signification. The regulation or grammar and laws of language, then, are already operating on the level of matter (the maternal body). Columbia U, lives in France Written on theology, semiotics, philosophy, politics, 2 novels Difficult to read POSTSTRUCTURALISM

I Am Woman Feminist Literary Theory ABJECTION (to throw away; dispicable) Identity is constituted by excluding anything that threatens one's own (or one's group's) borders. The maternal function is a threat to a woman’s identity. In a patriarchial society, we are forced to accept out maternal bodies (cannot abject them). Thus women develop depressive sexuality. But no need to reject motherhood--just need a new discourse of maternity--and willingness ti explore and accept multiple identities. Columbia U, lives in France Written on theology, semiotics, philosophy, politics, 2 novels Difficult to read POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Feminizing Freud Feminist Literary Theory Maternal regulation is the law before the law. Freud and Lacan maintain that the child enters the social by virtue of the paternal function, specifically paternal threats of castration. Kristeva asks why, if our only motivation for entering the social is fear, more of us aren't psychotic? Columbia U, lives in France Written on theology, semiotics, philosophy, politics, 2 novels Difficult to read POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Feminizing Freud Feminist Literary Theory Religion, specifically Catholicism (which makes the mother sacred), and science (which reduces the mother to nature) are the only discourses of maternity available to Western culture. Columbia U, lives in France Written on theology, semiotics, philosophy, politics, 2 novels Difficult to read POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Feminizing Freud Feminist Literary Theory Maternal function cannot be reduced to mother, feminine, or woman. Kristeva tries to counter-act stereotypes that reduce maternity to nature. Each one of us is what she calls a subject-in- process--in contrast with traditional notions of an autonomous unified (masculine) subject. Columbia U, lives in France Written on theology, semiotics, philosophy, politics, 2 novels Difficult to read Source: Kelly Oliver, Virginia Tech POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Madness, Holiness & Poetry Feminist Literary Theory Masculine symbolic order represses feminine semiotic order Semiotic open to men and women writers Semiotic is “creative”--marginal discourse of the avant garde Raw material of signification from pre-Oedipal drives (linked to mother) Realm of the subversive forces of madness, holiness and poetry Creative, unrepressed energy Columbia U, lives in France Written on theology, semiotics, philosophy, politics, 2 novels Difficult to read POSTSTRUCTURALISM

I Am Woman Feminist Literary Theory Challenges Judeo-Christian icons of woman. Balancing act: live within Lacan’s symbolic order of patriarchal laws without losing uniqueness. Women can produce own symbols and language. Multiplicity of female expression “To break the code, to shatter language, to find specific discourse closer to the body and emotions, to the unnamable repressed by the social contract.” Kristeva Columbia U, lives in France Written on theology, semiotics, philosophy, politics, 2 novels Difficult to read POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Binary Equals Feminist Literary Theory as ALICE JARDINE, Gynesis (1982) Woman as a binary opposition Man/woman Rational/irrational Good/evil Implied male logocentricism The concept of jouissance POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Helene Cixcous as Critic, novelist, playwright
The Joy of Jouissance Helene Cixcous as Critic, novelist, playwright Picks up where Lacan leaves off Denounces patriarchal binary oppositions Women enter into the Symbolic Order differently Deconstructs patriarchal Greek myths Femininity (jouissance) unrepresentable in phallocentric scheme of things Favors a “bisexual” view POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Deconstructing Sigmund
Helene Cixcous as Women are closer to the Imaginary Women more fluid, less fixed The individual woman must write herself Feminine literature: not objective; erase differences between order and chaos, text and speech; inherently deconstructive Admires Joyce and Poe Men can produce feminist literature POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Queer Theory as Gender and sexuality not “essential” to identity
Queer Ideas Queer Theory as Gender and sexuality not “essential” to identity Socially constructed Mutable and changeable Self shaped by language, signs and signifiers. Self becomes a subject in language, with more multiplicity of meaning. Western ideas of sexual identity come from science, religion, economics and politics and were constructed as binary oppositions About spin off from feminist studies Humanist view--identity and self are unique to you Feminist theory deconstructed the idea of the essential self Gay and lesbian studies Gender bending--Michael Jackson, Boy George, Dennis Rodman--men with earings, women with tatoos Politics: China--one child today. Many concubines before. Mormons--multiple wives. Roman eunuchs. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Deconstructing Sex Queer Theory as Queer theory deconstructs all binary oppositions about human sexuality. Encourages the examination of the world from an alternative view. Allows for the inclusion of gender, sexuality, race and other areas of identity by noticing the distinctions between identities, communities, and cultures. Challenges heterosexism and homophobia, in addition to racism, misogyny and other oppressive discourses while celebrating diversity. Some argue for separation of all forms of sexual behavior of any kind of moral judgment. But what if not consensual, hurts someone else POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Postcolonialism as Attempts to resurrect colonized cultures
The Myth of the Orient Postcolonialism as Attempts to resurrect colonized cultures Deconstruct Western view of third-world nations as “otherness” Edward Said: “Orientalism” was an artificial word constructed by the West to talk about and the East (Typical binary opposition) Empire-building nations used literature as power Ingrained Western myths & phallic logocentricism in colonized people Worked based upon Foucault’s notions of discourse and power POSTSTRUCTURALISM

So? The white-Western-male view of the world is dead
Now What? So? The white-Western-male view of the world is dead New Criticism, Marxism & Structuralism are passe We now have a new set of “lenses” to view the world We understand the importance of being suspicious (literature is not necessarily sincere) We recognize that truth, identity, gender, etc. are social constructs, contingent and local We recognize the power of discourse PM “explains” the global world in which we live White western male--at least reduced to only one of many possibilities The white Western male view of the world is dead New Criticism & Structuralism are flawed We now have a new set of “lenses” to view the world We understand the importance of being suspicious (literature is not necessarily sincere) Hidden texts, ideologies, gender bias, philo. Bia wary of grand narratives--K&K--know it alls We recognize that truth, identity, gender, etc. are social constructs, contingent and local We recognize the power of discourse How we are all shaped by language, pop culture, advertising, education, films, TV, music POSTSTRUCTURALISM

The Dangers of Postmodernism
Proceed with Caution The Dangers of Postmodernism Can lead to intellectual nihilism & cynicism From the comfortable foundation of humanism to absolute relativism and pluralism Whose lens is “correct”? Who says so? Is humanism really all that bad? It’s all theory How do we use theory? Apply all to all texts? Glib, hip intellectualism WHY ONLY THESE THEORIES? POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Proceed with Caution Where Do We Go from Here? Has the progress of history come to a dead-end? (as Foucault and Lyotard suggest) Have we reached the point of self-defeating moral relativism? Jameson: We need narratives, and some sort of history We need to re-endow the individual History, literature have important functions Sarup: We need to keep the Enlightenment project alive WHY ONLY THESE THEORIES? POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Different Ways to “Read” a Film/Novel
Archetypal Freudian / Lacanian Ideological Deconstructionist Feminist Queer Post-colonial

Contemporary Literary Theory & Feminism

Similar presentations

Presentation on theme: "Contemporary Literary Theory & Feminism"— Presentation transcript:

Similar presentations

About project

Feedback

Log in

Auth with social network:

Contemporary Literary Theory & Feminism

Similar presentations

Presentation on theme: "Contemporary Literary Theory & Feminism"— Presentation transcript:

Similar presentations

About project

Feedback