Question

Which of the following is NOT an aim of gynocriticism?

• A. Establishing a female literary tradition
• B. Recovering forgotten women writers
• C. Critiquing male authors
• D. Studying women’s language and experiences

Answer 1

Answer:

C. Critiquing male authors

Gynocriticism is a literary theory that aims to study women's writing as a distinct tradition, separate from male-authored works. It was coined by American feminist literary critic Elaine Showalter in the 1970s. 

The goals of gynocriticism include:

• Recovering lost writers

  Identifying and studying women writers who have been marginalized or excluded from the literary canon 

• Understanding women's writing

  Analyzing the unique qualities and concerns of women's writing, including imagery, themes, and genres 

• Creating new models

  Developing new models based on women's experiences to replace male models of literary creation 

• Giving women's writing its own space

  Studying women's literature on its own terms, rather than comparing it to male-authored works 

Some examples of gynocritical works include: 

• The Female Imagination by Patricia Meyer Spacks (1975)

• Literary Women by Ellen Moers (1976)

• A Literature of Their Own by Elaine Showalter (1977)

• The Madwoman in the Attic by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar (1979)