Elaine Showalter and Gynocritics 伊莱恩·肖瓦尔特和“女性中心批评”.docx

Elaine Showalter and GynocriticsBy Under the Supervision ofProfessor Dong HongchuanSubmitted in Partial Fulfillment of the RequirementsFor the Degree of Master of ArtsEnglish DepartmentSchool of Foreign StudiesGuizhou UniversityApril. 2009AcknowledgementsThe people who have contributed to the completion of this thesis are so many that Ican hardly express my gratitude to them enough.First of all, I would like to take this chance to express my sincere gratitude to mysupervisor, professor Dong for his kindly assistance and valuable guidance during theprocess of my thesis writing. I am also grateful to some other teachers from whom Ihave acquired knowledge and theories of literature and suggestions for improvementand thus gathered some ideas of the paper.Secondly, this thesis is greatly indebted to all who have instructed me in the courseof my studies for the Masters degree, including Professors Wang, Ning, Jin, and Fei,whose excellent lectures help me learn valuable things for my study. A special note ofgratitude is extended to the members of committee for the proposal. Their constructivesuggestions and precious comments provided directions for may study and greatlyassisted me to refine my thesis.Furthermore, I owe many thanks and gratitude to all the teachers and the studentswho participated and contributed to our survey. They were so kind to accept myinvitations for questionnaires and interviews and they provided me with valuableinformation which was indispensable for the completion of this thesis. I would also liketo express our special appreciation to teachers for their efforts and time to assist in thedistribution of questionnaires and the collection of data.Finally,my gratitude goes to my friends and family for their encouragement andsupport which are needed for my paper writing.iElaine Showalter and GynocriticsAbstractOne of Americas foremost academic literary scholars, Showalter is renownedfor her pioneering feminist studies of nineteenth- and twentieth-century female authorsand her provocative cultural analysis of womens oppression in the history of psychiatry.Showalter has been widely appreciated by critics for her prodigious knowledge,insightful analysis, and accessible prose. Most feminist literary scholars have lauded herachievement in helping to legitimize and further develop feminist critique, particularlyby reevaluating the social and historical context within which womens writing isstudied. However, some critics have contended that Showalters reach often exceeds hergrasp, faulting her for raising provocative questions and presenting a wealth of materialwithout analyzing it, or trying unsuccessfully to force-fit her usually expansive subjectmatter into a rigid critical context. Others have criticized Showalter for omitting orglossing over women writers who do not fit neatly into her thesis or analytical construct.In addition, some reviewers have objected to Showalters literary biases, especially inregards to the Victorian era, and her dubious psychoanalytic assumptions.In contrast with mentioned above, the study of Showalters feminist theory is ina state of neglect except for rare cases of simple general introduction to it in China. Asfor the present situation, the thesis attempts to restore Showalters gynocritics and hergynocratical practice through a detailed scrutiny, and give it an unbiased judgment withconsideration to the historical context in which Showalter practices it.The present thesis consists of five parts. In the first part, a brief literature reviewiiof the critical attention to Showalters criticism both in China and overseas follows anintroduction to the prominent status of Showalter in Anglo-American literary study.Based on the observation of the state of affairs in China, the thesis proposes that there isan urgent need for a detailed and comprehensive study on Showalters criticism toamend the present neglect of such a significant critical legacy. With an introduction tohistorical background of Showalters feminist criticism， the second part of this thesishas an overview of Showalters academic achievements which includes the majorworks of Showalter and her relations with the term of gynocritics. In this part, it has aclose analysis about the two books which exert significant impact on women studies. ALiterature of their Own: British Women Novelists from Bronte to Lessing, and in thisbook Showalter attempts to fill in the territory between these literary landmarks and toconstruct a more reliable map from which to explore the achievements of Englishwomen novelist. And it has a detail introduction of the female subculture, thethree-stage division and its characteristics and cultural contexts of womens writing.The other book discussed in this part is Sisters Choice Tradition and Change inAmerican Womens Writing. It introduces the American womens writing development.And it also and explore the broad cultural appropriation of womens quilt tradition. Theother focus on this thesis is to study the theoretical dimension of gynocritics. Part fourdevotes effort on the categories of “gynocritics” and “feminist critique” for feministcriticisms self-analysis and the four modes of redefining the womens writing texts.Whats more, it will explore how Showalter practices the theories of AmericanGynocriticism. The last chapter is the conclusion part, and it concludes the advantageand weakness of Showalter theories, and its inspiration to Chinese literature.Key words: Elaine Showalter; feminism; gynocritics; gynocriticism; woman literarytraditioniii摘要伊莱恩肖瓦尔特是美国女权主义批评的创始人之一。她的职业生涯和事业成就几乎与美国女权主义同步发展。她对美国女权主义批评的最大贡献和理论成就是挖掘女性文学传统、构筑妇女文学的大厦、创立 “妇女批评学”，倡导女性文化。虽然她的理论不断受到来自法国学派的攻击，但肖瓦尔特在当今美国学界的重要地位早已是不争的事实，对其批评的密切关注与详细阐发是对其贡献的承认。但国内对肖瓦尔特的理论的关注，仅限于为数不多的笼统介绍，导致其处于一种几乎被遗忘的状态。这种缺乏了解带来的误解与贬低影响了对肖瓦尔特理论的接受，妨碍了对其批评成就的有益吸收与借鉴。本文通过对肖瓦尔特她自己提出的“妇女中心批评”理论和具体的实践进行梳理，试图详细真实地还原肖瓦尔特的“妇女中心批评”，结合历史语境，并对其做出客观公允的评价。本文由五部分组成。第一部分简要介绍了肖瓦尔特和她的“妇女中心批评”理论并概述了中外批评界对其关注情况。与国外对肖瓦尔特的密切关注与广泛研究相反，国内的肖瓦尔特研究长期处于一种被遗忘的境地。据此，本文提出：这一现状亟需改变，详细全面的研究肖瓦尔特女性理论及其批评实践已成为当务之急。第二部分主要介绍肖瓦尔特的学术成就，探讨她的作品和她对“妇女中心批评”的阐释。第三部分重点考察了肖瓦尔特的两部重要作品。为恢复女性小说家在文学史中的合法地位，肖瓦尔特在她们自己的文学：从勃朗特到多利丝莱莘中重新挖掘自勃朗特以来大量名不见经传的女性作家。肖瓦尔特开诚布公地指出，在英国小说里，女性的领土通常被描绘成四周被山峦包围的荒漠，这些山峦即奥斯汀巅峰、勃朗特峭壁、艾略特山脉和伍尔夫丘陵。肖瓦尔特的目的就是为了填平这些文学里程碑之间的空隙和断裂。因此，她在这部著作中涉及了上百位一直被排斥在“文学经典”之外的女性作家。肖瓦尔特不仅发掘了女性文学中的统一声音，而且描绘了女性文学的发展过程。肖瓦尔特在姐妹们的选择：美iv国妇女写作中的传统与变革对美国女性文学也经行了精心地梳理。不同的是，她选取了不同时期的一些不被传统重视的女性作家的代表作品进行探讨。在这部著作中她分析了美国文学中特有的文化现象百衲被，肖沃尔特总结道,“百衲被”已取代了“大熔炉”,成了美国文化身份的中心隐喻。美国妇女文学正呈现出矛盾、分散、多元化的趋势,但是它并未放弃将它自己拼合成“文学百衲被”的努力。这两部作品是肖瓦尔特对“妇女中心批评”这一概念的具体实践。第四部分进一步探讨肖瓦尔特对“妇女中心批评”这一概念的理论阐释，特别是肖瓦尔特总结的四种模式。第五部分在前面几个部分的基础上，对肖瓦尔特的女性文学进行总体评价，指出其主要贡献与局限性。在总结肖瓦尔特女性理论实践及批评思想的基础上，结合国内现存问题，本文提出肖瓦尔特的女性理论对于今天的中国仍具有重要的启示与参考意义。关键词：伊莱恩肖瓦尔特、女性文学理论、妇女中心批评、妇女中心批评学、女性文学传统。vContentsAcknowledgements. iAbstract. ii摘要.ivChapter One Introduction. 11.1 A Brief Introduction to Elaine Showalter. 11.2 Literature Review.21.3 The Framework and Significance of the Thesis. 4Chapter Two An Overview of Showalters Academic Achievements. 62.1 Showalters Major Works. 62.2 Showalter and Gynocritics. 92.3 Summary. 12Chapter Three Forging Female Literary Tradition. 133.1 Images of Women Criticism. 133.2 “Female Subculture”: A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelistsfrom Bront to Lessing.163.3 “Patchwork quilt”:Sisters Choice Tradition and Change in AmericanWomens Writing. 263.4 Summary. 37Chapter Four The Theoretical Dimension of Gynocritics. 384.1 “Feminist Critique”: “Towards a Feminist Poetics”. 384.2 Redefining Womens text and writing: “Feminist criticism in theWilderness”.424.3ThePracticeofTheorizingAmericanGynocriticism:“AmericanGynocriticism”. 474.4 Summary. 49Chapter Five Conclusion. 51Notes.53vi.i.ii.1.53Bibliography.55原 创 性 声 明.59vii.55Chapter OneIntroduction1.1 A Brief Introduction to Elaine ShowalterElaine Showalter is one of founders of American feminism and still one of itsmost important and influential practitioners. Elaine Showalter was born on 21 January,1941 in Boston, Massachusetts. Her father was a self-made businessman. Her motherwas better educated than her father and an embittered, dissatisfied housewife. Showalterattributes her early attraction to feminism, in part, to the frustration of her mothersunproductive life. Showalter is a diligent scholar with many academic fruits. She hasfinished 10 books and 26 essays, 21 periodical publications and essay collections withother writers as well. A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Brontto Lessing (1977) is her representative work. And her two essays “Towards a FeministPoetic” (1979) and “Feminist Criticism in the Wildness” (1981) make a conclusion onfeminism literary criticism and a great contribution to her theoretical construction.The most important of achievement of Elaine Showalter is the invention ofgynocritics, “concerned with woman as writer-with woman as the producer of textualmeaning, with the history, themes, genres and structures of literature by women”(Jacobus, M. 1979:22). In order to explain her new concept on literary study, ElaineShowalter coined a new word from FrenchGynocriticism, is the historical study ofwomen writers as a distinct literary tradition. It refers to a criticism that constructs “afemale framework for the analysis of womens literature, to develop new models basedon the study of female experience, rather than to adapt male models and theories”(Jacobus, M. 1979:23).1Another major contribution of Showalter to feminism is the identification ofthree historical phrases of womens literary development. The first, feminine phrase(1840-1880) includes Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot, and is one where womenwriters imitated and internalized the dominant male aesthetic standards which requiredthat female authors remain gentlewomen. The the feminist phase (1880 1920)includes such radical feminist writers as Elizabeth Robins and Olive Schreiner, whoprotest against male values and advocate separatist utopias and suffragette sisterhoods.The third, female phrase, in (1920 onwards) inherited characteristics of the formerperiods and developed the idea of specifically female writing and female experience ina phase of self-discovery (Selden, R. & Widdowson, 2004, 132).1.2 Literature ReviewThe enormous and ubiquitous influence of Showalter leads to the flourishstudies on her: according to the Contemporary Literary Criticism from the ThomsonGale Literature Online Data, there are 45 articles and reviews about Showalter. Thesewritings generally fall into the following categories: 1) biographic ones represented byGregory S. Jay Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 67: Modern American Critics1;2) generation introduction to her works such as Kathryn Hughes “Holding the MiddleGround”2; 3) book reviews represented by Dierdre Bair, “End-of-the-Century BirthThroes”3; 4) detailed study on her feminist concepts and practice represented BrendaFoglio Lyonss “American Patchwork”4.In contrast with the intensive study on Showalter overseas, the lack ofattention to Showalter in China becomes especially apparent. Such a prominent andinfluential figure in feminism circles deserves close attention and detailed study. Butthe fact in China is that Showalter attracts only scarce attention and is often treated as arepresentative of American feminism whose work is A Literature of Their Own: British2Women Novelists from Bront to Lessing which introduces a series of unknown femalewriters.The lack of attention is revealed by the limited number of the books onShowalter in the libraries. The search conducted at the National Library of China findsunder the category of “Elaine Showalter” only two books in Chinese and 42 ones inforeign language, among which there are on Elaine Showalter and others with the samefirst name. One of the Chinese books is the translation of The Female Malady: Women,Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980 (1998) 5 by Chen Xiaolan and Yang Jianfeng,published by Lanzhou University Press. It is the only work of Showalter that has aChinese translation. The other is Chen Fengrongs doctoral dissertation, Dilemma andBreakthrough Interpretation and Reflection of Showalters Gynocritics6, published byChina Renmin University Press in 2002.According to statistics collected in CNKI, there are no more than four articlesdirectly dedicated to Showalter and her theories in all the journals and magazines so farsuch as Elaine Showalters Contribution to Feminism7 by Gu Hongxi. And three ofShowalters essays were translated into Chinese represented by A Critical of Our Own:Autonomy and Assimilation in Afro-American and Feminist Literary Theory,translated by Zhang Jingyuan collected in the Contemporary Feminism LiteraryCriticism8 (1992).Literary Theory of Feminism9, written by Zhang Yanbin, gives a briefintroduction to Showalters most important work-A Literature of Their Own: BritishWomen Novelists from Bront to Lessing and points out the disadvantage of the book.Contemporary American Novel Theory10, edited by Chen Xilin and Wang Xiaolu, doesgive a detailed introduction to Sisters Choice Tradition and Change in AmericanWomens Writing, but lacks in the analysis and comments. Sheng Nings 20th centuryAmerican Criticism11 introduces the identification of the three phases of women writingtradition, but it is short of further research and study. The latest detailed introduction toShowalter and her concepts was made by Yang Lixin in her doctoral dissertation AStudy of Western Feminist Criticism12. It has an insight analysis about Showaltersfeminist theory but lacks in the succession.3As for the domestic study on Showalter, there is only a single doctoraldissertation that is published, namely, Dilemma and Breakthrough Interpretation andReflection of Showalters Gynocritics by Chen Fengrong. As far as I know, Wangnan,in Beijing Normal University, does her doctoral dissertation on Elaine Showaltersfeminist theories.The status quo of the Chinese study on Showalter and her criticism, asrevealed by the above review, can be generalized as: 1) occasional acknowledgementsof his position in literary history based on general introduction which is more a taggingjob than detailed study; 2) translations of Showalters biolo