Literary Feminisms

Literary Feminisms provides a map for charting the difficult waters that feminist theories have created in literary studies. Ruth Robbins shows the reasons for the development of feminist literary critiques, explains the difficulties and exposes some of feminism's blindspots. A wide range of theorists is discussed from Wollstonecraft to Kristeva, showing the ways in which materialist, psychoanalytic and literary accounts of feminist thinking creatively intersect. Through a series of exemplary readings of texts such as Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Gilman's The Yellow Wall-paper she also points out how the student reader can begin to make her or his own feminist criticism, and can learn to engage with both the politics and poetics of the literature.
'This is a lively, straightforward and highly accessible introduction to the varieties of feminist criticism which are found today. Robbins gives a brief and very useful overview of the history of recent feminist thought ... Particularly useful are the feminist readings she offers: exemplar of how to turn theory into practice. I would have no hesitation in recommending this book to my own students Robbins writes with confidence and clarity. She explains critical concepts lucidly: her aim is to enable not over-awe, her audience. Even a student sceptical about feminist theory would gain greatly from this work, and those who already believe themselves familiar with the field will be led to see familiar texts - both theoretical and literary - in fresh ways. Literary Feminisms provides an invaluable introduction to its field' - Kate Flint, Linacre College, Oxford.