Celebrated feminist critic premiers work
Vanessa Weber
Issue date: 2/27/09 Section: News
Feminist criticism had been so 1970s. But, with the coming publication of "A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx" by literary and cultural critic Elaine Showalter, that is no longer the case. In her newest project, Showalter, who now celebrates iconic status, has hurled herself into the business of sharing that recognition and respect with her fellow female writers.
Showalter was invited to Skidmore by Dr. Holly Jackson of the English department, who had met Showalter while studying as a graduate student at Brandeis. The lecture, hosted last Tuesday, Feb. 17 at the Surrey Inn, was co-sponsored by the English, American Studies, and Women's Studies departments.
Among the audience was Margaret Fiori '09. "I took a feminist political class last semester and I became enthralled by feminist ideas," Fiori said. "I wanted to go to the lecture because of my introduction to that work."
Although women authors have been celebrated in literary anthologies before, "A Jury of Her Peers" is the first comprehensive literary history of American female authors from before the Revolutionary War until the present. While the publication of this book is not Showalter's most radical venture, it is concisdered milestone in feminist literture.
"The book is a reaction," Showalter said, "to the fact that many female authors are forgotten once they die."
"It was eye-opening, shocking, that there are so many female writers who were praised in their times but were forgotten after they died," Fiori said. "I think her book is necessary and important. It's a stepping-stone. Once she puts it out there, she's going to push people's buttons to respond."
The title of Showalter's new book comes from a short story written by journalist Susan Glaspell in 1917. The short story was in response to a murder trial Glaspell had covered where a farmwoman allegedly killed her husband. In the story, the male characters fail to uncover a motive for the killing, whereas the female characters come to recognize the murder as revenge for the overbearing patriarchy from the husband that had for so long strangled the creativity, strength, and joy of the farmwoman. Collectively, the women work to protect their peer from further imprisonment by the law.
Showalter was invited to Skidmore by Dr. Holly Jackson of the English department, who had met Showalter while studying as a graduate student at Brandeis. The lecture, hosted last Tuesday, Feb. 17 at the Surrey Inn, was co-sponsored by the English, American Studies, and Women's Studies departments.
Among the audience was Margaret Fiori '09. "I took a feminist political class last semester and I became enthralled by feminist ideas," Fiori said. "I wanted to go to the lecture because of my introduction to that work."
Although women authors have been celebrated in literary anthologies before, "A Jury of Her Peers" is the first comprehensive literary history of American female authors from before the Revolutionary War until the present. While the publication of this book is not Showalter's most radical venture, it is concisdered milestone in feminist literture.
"The book is a reaction," Showalter said, "to the fact that many female authors are forgotten once they die."
"It was eye-opening, shocking, that there are so many female writers who were praised in their times but were forgotten after they died," Fiori said. "I think her book is necessary and important. It's a stepping-stone. Once she puts it out there, she's going to push people's buttons to respond."
The title of Showalter's new book comes from a short story written by journalist Susan Glaspell in 1917. The short story was in response to a murder trial Glaspell had covered where a farmwoman allegedly killed her husband. In the story, the male characters fail to uncover a motive for the killing, whereas the female characters come to recognize the murder as revenge for the overbearing patriarchy from the husband that had for so long strangled the creativity, strength, and joy of the farmwoman. Collectively, the women work to protect their peer from further imprisonment by the law.
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