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20. The Classical Feminist Tradition episode artwork

Oct 15, 2026 59 min

20. The Classical Feminist Tradition

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Introduction to Theory of Literature (ENGL 300)Uploaded 01-09-09In this lecture on feminist criticism, Professor Paul Fry uses Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own as a lens to and commentary on the flourishing of feminist criticism in the twentieth century. The structure and rhetoric of A Room of One's Own is extensively analyzed, as are its core considerations of female novelists such as Austen, Eliot, and the Brontës. The works of major feminist critics, such as Ann Douglas, Mary Ellman, Kate Millett, Elaine Showalter, and Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, are mentioned. The logocentric approach to gender theory, specifically the task of defining female language as something different and separate from male language, is considered alongside Woolf's own endorsement of literary and intellectual androgyny.00:00 - Chapter 1. Transition into Feminist Theory: Tony the Tow Truck06:35 - Chapter 2. Overlapping Identities15:29 - Chapter 3. The Structure of A Room of One's Own22:32 - Chapter 4. Feminist Criticism and A Room of One's Own28:23 - Chapter 5. Women's Language and the Male Sentence39:18 - Chapter 6. Complications and Implications of Classical FeminismComplete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/coursesThis course was recorded in Spring 2009.

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20. The Classical Feminist Tradition

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