Partial Visions

Utopianism - the belief that reality not only must, but can, be changed - is one of the most vital impulses of feminist politics. Angelika Bammer traces the articulation of this impulse in literary texts produced within the context of the American, French and German women's movements of the 1970s. "Partial Visions" provides a conceptual framework within which to approach the history of Western feminism during this formative period. At the same time, the book's comparative approach emphasizes the need to distinguish the particularities of different feminisms. Bammer argues that in terms of a radical utopianism, Western feminism not only continued where the Left foundered, but went a decisive step further by reconceptualizing what both "political" and "utopian" could mean. Through simultaneously close and contextualized reading of texts published in the US, France and the two Germanies between 1969 and 1979, her book examines the transformative potential as well as the ideological blindspots of this utopianism. It is this double edge that "Partial Visions" emphasizes. Feminist utopianism, it argues, is not just visionary, but is also myopic - time and culture-bound. This book should be of interest to students and teachers of women's studies, feminist theory, comparative literature, cultural studies, social and cultural history.