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1. FEMINIST CRITICISM
BY Susma Neupane
Amrita Rai
Rashika Khadka

2. Main Idea
• Feminist criticism started in the Ancient Greek period and has a long
history. There were many woman writers and critics since early time but
their contribution has not been recognized by the male centric literary
discourses. Feminists believed that using male language prompts women
writers to think and express in male ways. Hence, they oppose writing in
male language. The Feminists have strongly attacked the idea of .
objectivity and neutrality. Feminists have openly confessed their writing
as subjective. The feminist theory is said to be overlapping with many
other theories.

3. Summary
• Feminist criticism which started in the Ancient Greek period has a long
history. For instance, Aristophanes used female chorus as strong and
superior to male chorus in his play 'Lysistrata'. Similarly, Chaucer values
the experience of his characters against male authority.
• In the middle ages, women debated with male critics. During Renaissance,
many women poets emerged in France and England. In the seventeenth
century, many women writers could gain access to literary profession.
After the French Revolution many writers including Mary. Wollstonecraft
voiced for the need of women's education. Since. 19th century, many
women writers could gain important place in European and American
literary circles. Some of them include Jane Austen, the Bronte Sisters,
George Eliot, Elizabeth Browning, Margaret Fuller and Emily Dickinson.
Modernist Feminist writers included Hilda Doolittle, Gertrude Stein,
Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf.

4. • There were many woman writers and critics since early time but their
contribution has not been recognized by the male centric literary
discourses. For long time, women were deprived of education and other
freedoms enjoyed by male. Women's writings were also considered
inferior to men's. In most male authored literatures, women are negatively
portrayed (as whores, obedient wives) which formed and perpetuated
gender ideology.

5. • In the twentieth century, we see diverse issues raised by feminists such as:
1. Male centered literary history must be rewritten objectively and
women's writings should be included.
2. Write a separate tradition of female literary discourses.
3. Theories of sexuality and sexual difference have to be constructed based
on Freudian psychoanalysis, Marxism and the social sciences.
4. Women's representation/portrayal in male literature must be objective.
5. The issue of role of gender in both literary creation and literary
criticism.
6. Recognize female and experience as different from male. (i.e. develop
gynocriticism).
7. Two popular views on whether to continue writing in present male-
invented language (i) use same male language by appropriating and
modifying it, (ii) need separate language that helps articulate women's
feelings and emotions.

6. • Feminists believed that using male language prompts women writers to
think and express in, male ways. Hence, they oppose writing in male
language. Feminist have also attacked the tradition of dividing entities or
creating binaries like man and woman, black and white, rich and poor,
master and slave, which began since the time of Aristotle.. Feminists have
often rejected there diverse ways of viewing the world, stressing instead
the various shades or possibilities between male and female, between
black and white. They propose to consider man and woman, black and
white, etc. as one entity rather than opposites. Such distinctions are the
cultural and ideological construction which lack scientific and rational
basis. Another important concern of feminists has been the rejection of
theory on the grounds that it houses masculine presuppositions. Such
theories are based on male generated concepts.

7. • The Feminists have strongly attacked the idea of objectivity and neutrality.
Feminists have openly confessed their writing as subjective. They believe
that human thought is governed by the nature and situation of the body in
place and time and that thought is not an abstract process. This means
"our body shapes our thinking. Two people born is two different social
cultural or political situations will obviously experience the same thing
differently. For instance, if a boy reads a teenage novel it will be different
from a girl's reading. Hence, our bodily experiences precede to the books
we read.

8. Conclusion
• The feminist theory is said to be overlapping with other theories like
Marxism and Deconstruction, as well as with certain philosophy such as
Hegel (who opposed traditional logic), and Schopenhauer (who
recognized the subjection of reason to bodily needs), and with poetic
visions expressed by French Symbolists and modernists. Hence, feminism
is not comprised of any one movement or set of values.

9. • सुन्ने लाई सुनको माला
• भान्ने लाई फ
ु लको माला
• यो क
ु रा बैक
ु ण्ठजाला
• लेखने बेलामा खुरुखुरु आइजाला /
• THANK YOU