FEMINIST LITERATURE

I. Feminism

The history of feminism is the history of the feminist movement as well as its origins. The feminist movement emerged in around the late 19 century, with the beginnings of the first wave of feminism. Feminism, as a whole, came in three “waves”, each dealing with different aspects of the same issue; the first wave being the feminism movement in the 19th to early 20th centuries, which dealt mainly with the Suffrage movement. The second wave (1960s – 1980s) dealt with the inequality of laws, as wells as unofficial inqualities. The third wave of feminism (1990s-current) arose from the perceived failures of the second wave.

Precisely defining feminism can be very challenging, but pragmatically, a broad understanding of feminism includes women acting, speaking and writing on women’s issues and rights, identifying social injustice in the status quo and bringing their own unique perspective to bear on issues.

The terms "feminism" or "feminist" first appeared in France and The Netherlands in 1872, Great Britain in the 1890s, and the United States in 1910. The Oxford English Dictionary lists 1894 for the first appearance of "feminist" and 1895 for "feminism". The British Daily News introduced "feminist" to the English language in a report from France. Prior to the appearance of “feminist” as a label for women involved in discussing or advancing women’s issues, it is not uncommon to find the term protofeminist used, although this defies a standardized definition as much as any other variety of feminist. Another term more commonly used was "Woman's Rights", hence Queen Victoria's description of this "mad, wicked folly of 'Woman's Rights'".

II. Historical Background

During that later portion of the 19th century, the legal rights of women were greatly expanded. Before 1870, a married woman had no right to sue or be sued, keep money given to her in a will or own property or investments. This however changed with acts such as the Divorce act of 1875 that established impartial state-run divorce courts. Women received money left to them after the Women’s Property Act of 1870, and they were entitled the rights to property and investment in 1882 in the Married Women’s Property Act. This allowed a woman to own and be held responsible for land and businesses.

This striking increase in political liberties came at the price of many social freedoms for women. No longer allowed to accompany men without chaperones, women were far more restricted during the later portion of the century. This is most clearly shown in the transition from strong and empowered female characters, to more passive and subservient roles in the literature of the time. Books such as Frankenstein depict women as bystanders with no constructive purpose other than an object of affection or desire. Even in books such as Dracula where women are presented as major characters, they are considered easily corrupted and subject to the whims of others. You begin to see the reemergence of women depicted as weak and deficient. This can be seen as a reaction to the increasing feminist sentiment in England. The literature depicts the social backlash against liberating legislation.

The effects of 19th century feminism are clearly seen through the lens of the literature produced during and after the enactment of controversial acts to advance the legal status of women. By documenting the social changes undergone as to the depiction of women in everyday society, literature preserved the dramatic backlash from this vital period in history.

III. Feminist Literature

The literature of this early point in the century depicts active female characters that are generally socially mobile and serve to empower a generally weakened portion of the population. Characters such as Lizzie Benet of Pride and Prejudice (written 1802) and Jane Eyre (1847) served to empower a strong feminist identity. The women in the novels of this time period were far more outspoken and developed over the course of the text. These characteristics would change drastically over the next decades. The feminist movement produced both feminist fiction and non-fiction, and created new interest in women's writing. It also prompted a general reevaluation of women's historical and academic contributions in response to the belief that women's lives and contributions have been underrepresented as areas of scholarly interest. Much of the early period of feminist literary scholarship was given over to the rediscovery and reclamation of texts written by women. Studies like Dale Spender's Mothers of the Novel (1986) and Jane Spencer's The Rise of the Woman Novelist (1986) were ground-breaking in their insistence that women have always been writing. Commensurate with this growth in scholarly interest, various presses began the task of reissuing long-out-of-print texts.

The widespread interest in women's writing is related to a general reassessment and expansion of the literary canon. Interest in post-colonial literatures, gay and lesbian literature, writing by people of color, working people's writing, and the cultural productions of other historically marginalized groups has resulted in a whole scale expansion of what is considered "literature," and genres hitherto not regarded as "literary," such as children's writing, journals, letters, travel writing, and many others are now the subjects of scholarly interest. Most genres and sub-genres have undergone a similar analysis, so that one now sees work on the "female gothic" or women's science fiction.

Mary Astell is frequently described as the first feminist writer. However, this depiction fails to recognize the intellectual debt she owed to Schurman, Makin and other women who preceded her. She was

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