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A Literature of their own : The Role of Women Writers in the History of British Literature
Elian Showalter, one of
the pillars of feminist criticism, has acquired a distinguished position in the
field of feminist criticism. She for the first time traced out and prepared a
history of women's fiction in England. This concern for female writers in particular
and women, in general, was the result of a series of incidents and influences
which she had since her childhood. several factors are responsible for making
her feminist.
In her book, she presents
different aspects of feminism. Showalter has started her discussion with what
others have said about female writing and female creativity in her first
chapter "The Female Tradition “. The chapter begins with a quotation from
G. H. Lewes saying that in spite of the fact that women have different spheres,
experiences, and perspectives from males, women are not able to write as
women, they are imitating the way men write. According to Lewes, to
write as a woman is the real task women have to perform. John Stuart Mill also agreed and argued that women will have to struggle a lot to create an
original and independent art untouched and influenced by the male literary
tradition. The writer quotes J.S. Mill, "if women lived in different
countries from men and had never read any of their writings. They would have a
literature of their own " He also said, women will always be imitators and
never innovators.
To this Showalter
answered that women have already attained a literary position. She further says
that nobody will deny that the nineteenth century was the "age of female
novelists" with examples like Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and George
Eliot.
Another charge against
the female novelists is that they have always been self-conscious and rarely
self-defining. Showalter says that the opinions about women's writings are so
inaccurate and scattered. It is so because the critics have focused on the few
great novelists who have derived their opinions. From them, they have ignored
the writers who are not supposed to be great but are very important if we want
to trace the real trends in female literary tradition. Regarding the prominence
and greatness of a woman writer, Showalter says that if we want to view how
female self-awareness has gotten expression in the hands of female writers, we
need to view them against the backdrop of women of her time.
Showalter attempted to
find out when women began to write fiction and talk about 1750 on women
stepping into the literary marketplace as novelists. Critics like J.M.S.
Tompkins and watt found that most nineteenth-century novels were written by
women. This huge influx of female novelists brought a new trend to the literary
mainstream. Now, men were able to imitate and usurp female experience.
Further discussing the
early trends of female writing and the professional role of female writers. She
tells that eighteenth-century women novelist exploited the stereotype of
helpless femininity to win protection from male reviewers. The main theme of
novels of the eighteenth century is feminism.
In the chapter "The
Feminine Novelists and The Will to write" Showalter describes why and how
women are disliked as writers. She notices that women faced many problems in
maintaining their careers as professional writers.
In the third chapter
"The Double critical standard and feminine novel "Showalter
concentrates on the double standards of analysis and assessment of writings by
male and female writers. In this chapter, Showalter talks about three main
reasons why men found demerits in female writing. First, in most of the
criticism, Showalter argues and tries to justify the assumption that novels by
women could be recognized as inferior to those by men. Secondly, there was a
strong belief that the female body was in itself an inferior instrument and,
small, weak, and liable to collapse, eclipse and get failure. The third
criticism given for the inferiority of female writing was a limited experience.
Man has a wider experience and the world is opened for him more than women.
Showalter condemns thinkers and scholars who opined that woman lacked in
confidence and imagination. Showalter quotes Charlotte Bronte, " to you I
am neither man nor woman. I came before you as an author only. It is the sole
standard by which you have a right to judge me - the sole ground on which I
accept your judgement "
We can sum up our discussion
by saying that Showalter has
contributed great scholarship to feminist literary criticism and made the minor
women writers nineteenth and twentieth century to hold a prominent position in
the history of fiction writing in English.
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