Editing Feminist literary criticism (section)

==History and Critics==
While the beginning of more mainstream feminist literary criticism is typically considered during second-wave feminism, there are multiple texts prior to that era that contributed greatly to the field. Feminist literary criticism can be traced back to medieval times, with some arguing that Geoffrey Chaucer's Wife of Bath could be an example of early feminist literary critics.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Plain |first1=Gill |title=A History of Feminist Literary Criticism |last2=Sellers |first2=Susan |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007}}</ref> Additionally, the period considered First wave feminism also contributed extensively to literature and women's presence within it. For example, 1929's [[A Room of One's Own]] by Virginia Woolf is undoubtedly considered one of these formative texts. In it, Woolf argues that in order to write creatively and be critically successful, a woman must be able to own her own space and financial stability. And though the basis of the plot is around a Woolf speaking at a conference for women's literature, she speculates that there is still a long way to go for women and so-called 'women's issues' in creative space, especially based on the differences in educational quality Woolf observed between men and women.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Room of One's Own|last=Woolf|first=Virginia|publisher=Martino Fine Books|year=2012|isbn=978-1614272779|location=Eastford, CT 06242|pages=17–21}}</ref>

Modern feminist literary criticism finds most of its roots in the 1960s second-wave feminist movements. Beginning with the interrogation of male-centric literature that portrayed women in a demeaning and oppressed model, theorists such as Mary Ellman, Kate Millet and [[Germaine Greer]] challenged past imaginations of the feminine within literary scholarship. Within second-wave feminism, three phases can be defined: the feminine phase, the feminist phase, and the female phase. During the feminine phase, female writers adhered to male values. In the feminist phase, there was a theme of criticism of women's role in society. And in the female phase, it was now accepted that women's writing was valid, and the works were less combative than in the feminist phase.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://writersinspire.org/content/feminist-approaches-literature|title=Feminist Approaches to Literature {{!}} Great Writers Inspire|website=writersinspire.org|access-date=2016-10-10}}</ref>

Susan Lanser suggested changing the name of feminist literary criticism to "critical literary feminism" to change the focus from the criticism to the feminism, and points out that writing such works requires "consciousness of political context."<ref name=":1" /> In a similar vein, Elaine Showalter became a leading critic in the gynocritical method with her work ''A Literature of their Own'' in 1977. By this time, scholars were not only interested in simply demarcating narratives of oppression but also creating a literary space for past, present and future female literary scholars to substantiate their experience in a genuine way that appreciates the aesthetic form of their works.

Additionally, Black literary feminist scholars began to emerge, in the post-Civil Rights era of the United States, as a response to the masculine-centric narratives of Black empowerments began to gain momentum over female voices. Although not a "critical" text, ''The Black Woman: An Anthology'', edited by Cade (1970) is seen as essential to the rise of Black literary criticism and theory. Its compilation of poems, short stories and essays gave rise to new institutionally supported forms of Black literary scholarship. The [[Combahee River Collective]] released what is called one of the most famous pieces in Black literary scholarship known as "A Black Feminist Statement" (1977), which sought to prove that literary feminism was an important component to black female liberation.

In 1979 Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar published [[The Madwoman in the Attic]], an analysis of women's poetry and prose, and how it fits into the larger feminist literary canon. This publication has become a staple of feminist criticism and has expanded the realm of publications considered to be feminist works, especially in the 19th century. The book specifically argues that women have largely been considered in two distinct categories by men in academia, monsters or angels. Gilbert and Gubar argued that being trapped in these categories regulated women writers to specific areas of literature and writing, leaving the rest open only to men, and causing a distinct anxiety in women's writers to stay specifically within those categories or be ridiculed.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Madwoman In the Attic 2nd Edition|last1=Gilbert|first1=Sandra|last2=Gubar|publisher=New Haven : Yale University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0300084580|location=London|pages=45–92}}</ref> Gilbert and Gubar's specific focus on literary criticism in the realm of poetry and other short pieces has expanded the possibilities of feminist literary contributions today, as they were previously seen as less valid than longer works. Today, writers like [[Gloria E. Anzaldúa]] have been able to contribute to the feminist canon, while still working with writing forms other than full-sized novels.

In the 1980s, [[Hazel Carby]], [[Barbara Christian]], [[bell hooks]], [[Nellie Y. McKay|Nellie McKay]], [[Valerie Smith (academic)|Valerie Smith]], [[Hortense Spillers]], Eleanor Traylor, [[Cheryl Wall]] and Sheryl Ann Williams all contributed heavily to the Black Feminist Scholarship of the period. During that same time, [[Deborah E. McDowell]] published ''New Directions for Black Feminist Criticism'', which called for a more theoretical school of criticism versus the current writings, which she deemed overly practical. In this essay McDowell also extensively discussed black women's portrayal in literature, and how it came across as even more negative than white women's portrayal. As time moved forward, the theory began to disperse in ideology. Many decided to shift towards the nuanced psychological factors of the Black experience and further away from broad sweeping generalizations. Others began to connect their works to the politics of lesbianism. Some decided to analyze the Black experience through their relationship to the Western world. Regardless, these scholars continue to employ a variety of methods to explore the identity of Black feminism in literature.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=def1ba3e-5b36-406d-be55-510c610a09f1%40sessionmgr198&vid=2&hid=112|title=EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page|access-date=29 January 2016}}{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
[[File:Deborah E. McDowell.jpg|thumb|160x160px|Deborah E McDowell]]
French scholars such as [[Julia Kristeva]], [[Hélène Cixous]], [[Luce Irigaray]] and [[Bracha L. Ettinger]] introduced psychoanalytic discourses into their work by way of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan as a way to truly "get to the root" of feminine anxieties within text to manifest broader societal truths about the place of women.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://writersinspire.org/content/feminist-approaches-literature|title=Feminist Approaches to Literature|access-date=29 January 2016}}</ref><ref>Bracha L. Ettinger, Matrix and Metramorphosis. ''Differences'', Vol.4, N.3,. 1992.</ref><ref>Bracha L. Ettinger ''The Matrixial Borderspace''. University of Minnesota Press, 2006.</ref> Current feminist scholars in the field of literature include [[Hortense Spillers]], Nancy Armstrong, Annette Kolodny and Irene Tayler who all come from a variety of backgrounds who use their own nuanced and subjective experiences to inform their understanding of feminist literature. Currently, several university scholars all employ the usage of literary feminism when critiquing texts. The mainstreaming of this school has given academia an extremely useful tool in raising questions over the gender relationships within texts.