Elaine Showalter – Towards a Feminist Poetics
Elaine Showalter, a leading feminist critic, argues in this essay that traditional literary criticism has ignored, distorted, or undervalued women’s literary experience. She proposes a new method called “gynocriticism”—a criticism that studies women as writers, their history, themes, styles, and experiences.
Showalter criticizes earlier feminist approaches for focusing only on how men represent women. Instead, she insists that feminist criticism must focus on women’s writing itself.
Main Aim of the Essay
Showalter wants to create a complete, independent framework for the study of women’s literature—free from male-dominated theories. Her goal is to establish a feminist poetics based on:
- women’s literary tradition
- women’s shared experiences
- women’s unique language, style, and expression
Two Modes of Feminist Criticism
Showalter identifies two broad types of feminist criticism:
1. **Feminist Critique (External Mode)**
This examines how male writers portray women.
- stereotypes of women
- misrepresentation
- patriarchal ideology
- images of women in male literature
However, Showalter says feminist critique is reactive and dependent on male writing.
2. **Gynocriticism (Internal Mode)**
This is Showalter’s major contribution. It studies women as writers, asking:
- What is the history of women’s writing?
- What themes and experiences are central to women authors?
- How do women express female identity through language?
- How do women writers differ from men?
Gynocriticism builds a female literary tradition, not one borrowed from male theories.
Showalter’s Four Phases of Women’s Writing
She identifies four historical stages in women’s literary development:
1. **Feminine Phase (1840–1880)**
- women wrote in imitation of men
- used male pseudonyms
- accepted patriarchal standards
2. **Feminist Phase (1880–1920)**
- women protested male dominance
- literature focused on rights, equality, suffrage
- writers explored anger and injustice
3. **Female Phase (1920 onward)**
- women seek self-discovery
- writing based on female experience
- focus on identity, body, motherhood, sexuality
4. **Postmodern / Contemporary Phase (implied in later works)**
- women challenge gender itself
- women experiment with form and language
- intersectional identities explored
Why Women’s Writing Needs a Separate Poetics
According to Showalter:
- women have been historically excluded from canon and culture
- their voices express different psychological and social realities
- male criticism does not understand female experience
- women’s writing must be read in its own context
Key Issues Showalter Highlights
- silencing of women’s voices
- lack of female literary history
- male-controlled publishing and criticism
- social pressures on women writers
She urges critics to build archives, histories, and frameworks that centre women.
Gynocriticism as a Method
Gynocriticism studies:
- psychology of women writers
- linguistic patterns in female writing
- themes of body, identity, family, sexuality
- women’s literary communities, diaries, letters
- differences between male and female creativity
This creates a female-centred literary theory.
Critical Significance
- Showalter transforms feminist criticism into an independent field.
- She introduces the major concept gynocriticism.
- Her phases of women’s writing influence feminist historiography.
- Her work inspires later feminist theorists (Gilbert & Gubar, Cixous, Irigaray).
- She emphasizes cultural, historical and psychological analysis.
Quick Revision Table
| Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| Feminist Critique | Study of how men depict women in literature |
| Gynocriticism | Study of women writers & female literary tradition |
| Feminine Phase | Imitation of men (1840–1880) |
| Feminist Phase | Protest against patriarchy (1880–1920) |
| Female Phase | Self-discovery & unique female identity (1920– ) |
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Critic | Elaine Showalter |
| Essay | Towards a Feminist Poetics (1979) |
| Main Contribution | Concept of gynocriticism |
| Approach | Feminist criticism, literary history |
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