| This article examines Judith Butler’s conception of gender theory,focusing on her gender criticism of literature.It first places her theory in a Western critical context and explores the theoretical resources that shaped Butler’s gender thought in the context of the times.Her theory is strongly philosophical,drawing on the theories of Hegel,Althusser and Austen to consider the process by which the gendered subject is constructed in the act of speech.At the same time,she takes in the essence of postmodern ideas and combines gender theory with postmodern thought,breaking down the logocentric and dichotomous view of gender.After analysing the discipline to which the gendered subject is subjected,she penetrates the matrix of heteronormativity implicit in psychoanalysis and attempts to subvert the solidified notions of gender to form a logical view of gender.Secondly,the basic elements of Butler’s cultural criticism of gender in literature are elaborated.Taking inspiration from Kafka’s Before the Law,where the countryman’s expectation of law constructs the authority of the Torah,Butler argues that the same is true of the authority of gender,that the expectation of the intrinsic nature of gender produces the phenomenon of gender itself,that there is no gendered subject,that the subject is dissolved;in her reading of Antigone,Butler argues that Antigone’s words and actions challenge authority,deviate from the original norms and become gender-ambiguous being;and in Tommy the Unsentimental,which sees the fictional nature of masculinist archetypes through the usurpation of paternal law.Thirdly,summarize the characteristics of Butler’s gender criticism in the field of literature.Butler’s literary gender criticism points to a transcendence of binary gender;exposes the way in which discursive power operates gender norms by stealth and suggests the dynamics of subversion;her analysis of gender is a radical gender criticism that rejects universal models and always situates the subject within an open structure.Finally,I would like to reflect on Butler’s gender thought,which brings a new perspective to literary gender criticism,transcending the shackles of traditional gender criticism and making gender an open site.But it also raises questions about the failure to provide a timely model after opening up the possibility of gender pluralism,allowing the category of women to dissolve and gender to become a temporary identity,causing dissatisfaction among many critics.The relationship between literature and gender is complex,and Butler’s critical approach of transcending within the framework of gender still has limitations.Therefore,future literary criticism should be more inclusive and pluralistic,reinterpreting the meaning of gender in a broader context,and thus achieving human liberation. |
