| This dissertation proposes a theory--i.e. a conceptual framework and a methodology--which comprehends feminist criticism as a coherent project. The elaboration of the theory proceeds in three stages.;The second stage of the theoretical formulation involves the elaboration of a first approximation to the desired theory of feminist criticism. I define feminist criticism not as a single, self-consistent set of principles but as an ensemble of contradictions--a network of problems.;Although this structural definition of feminist criticism avoids the stultifying rigor of the traditional definition, it is still too static and mechanistic. It fails to take full account of the subjective moment of the feminist project. The third stage of the theory involves the incorporation of the structural definition in a dialectical formulation of feminist criticism as a collective project, a collective production of meaning. The idea is to elaborate a feminist criticism which is not regional criticism, but a paradigm for the critical enterprise.;The dissertation proposes a dialectical method devised for the specific needs of feminist criticism. I distinguish this mode of thought not only from the non-dialectical mode which governs traditional criticism, but also from the dialectical method of Marxist criticism.;First, I examine the expectations implicit in the idea of a "theory." In general, when we think of theory, we have in mind a self-consistent set of definitions and first principles, and a "grammar"--a set of rules for regulating and regularizing the enterprise. These are the expectations feminist critics have in mind when they speak of theory in terms of a "manifesto" and a "rigid methodology." Feminist critics are right in doubting both the desirability and the feasibility of such a theory. Feminist criticism cannot be fitted into such a form without considerable forcing and pruning. We need a theory which represents our work as a coherent enterprise, but the feminist project also requires that we remain flexible and open, and that we eschew any theory which has the potential for becoming a mechanism for control. We need a formless form, a theory which is not a theory.;Finally, as a companion piece to the theory, I present a specimen of practical criticism which is informed by the dialectical logic elaborated earlier. I analyze two realistic novels: Middlemarch by George Eliot, and The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, and two science fiction novels: The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin, and Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy. |
