Gender and Literature (An Old and Rare Book)

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About the Book Gender and Literature (an anthology) shows how sexual politics gets reflected in literature and the difference it makes to the writing and reading from a woman-centered perspective as distinguished from the man-centred perspective. The male contributors here have presented remarkable insight into the working of feminist ideology. One such example is Ernst Van Alphen whose stance is unique and fascinating. He deals with the consequences of feminist criticism for male scholars who take feminism seriously.

The anthology is divided into two parts. Part I deals with different aspects of Feminist Theory while Part II shows how this theory could be applied to different texts.

It is a useful compilation for students, researchers and teachers interested in the Feminist Literary Theory and its application to individual texts.

About the Author Dr. Iqbal Kaur, Reader in English, Punjabi University, Patiala did her M.A. in English in 1967 with distinction and won a Gold Medal for PG Diploma in Anthropological Linguistics in 1971. She did her Ph.D in 1985 and Diploma in Distance Education from Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, in 1988. She has been awarded Senior-Doctoral Fulbright Fellowship for the academic year 1992-93.

Dr. Kaur's major areas of interest are Feminist Studies, Semiotics, Stylistics and ELT. She has authored three books: Untying and Retying the Text: An Analysis of Kamala Das's My Story; Feminist Revolution and Kamala Das's My Story (both published) and Surfacing Atwood's Surfacing. Another book she is working on is Sylvia Plath and Margaret Atwood: A Study in Madness and Sexual Politics. She has written a large number of research papers and has participated in several national and International seminars and conferences.

Introduction Gender and literature closely related each other in that neither can be conceived apart society and culture Gender, differentiated from sex, nothing to do with biology. sex, which given biological given, gender social and cultural construct. straight jacket in which men and women dance their unequal dance. No wonder, men and women biologically different each other; but they just differences sexual inequality and male dominance. patriarchal is associated with superiority whereas femininity linked with inferiority, and while masculinity implies action, self assertion domination, femininity passivity. docility, obedience and self-negation.

is creation God and sexual differences are essential for procreation, gender not God's creation. the creation and flair domination. A patriarchal social set up firmly asserts men's superiority and is based not on mutuality but Although, women played a vital role in the creation of society have active agents, the actors history, the patriarchal thought always tried to relegate them to margins, obscure history'. Gerda Lerner has observed, 'Women no history-so were told and so they believed. And because had no history they had no future alternatives' (1986: 222).

The subordination women men is believed be older than civilization itself. The image woman created by man. It what he wanted to be and he never wanted to be an equal, all the privileges was enjoying. the image of woman created by women or by men and women jointly but men alone womanhood set women by men, women could have clear themselves. So, 'Woman, presented with image in mirror danced that image, hypnotic trance. And because she thought the image was herself, became that' (Figes 1970: 13).

**Contents and Sample Pages**