From the daughter's seduction to the production of desire: why do women read the romance?.

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Date

1993

Authors

Kure, Kathryn Susan.

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Abstract

"Why do women read the romance?" cannot be answered by Anglo-American feminist literary criticism; a critique is brought against feminist definitions of gender and genre, and the question, "Why did women begin to write (novels)?" Gender definition and genre formation are integrally interrelated in the modern period; this can be traced through textual analyses of textual practices in early nineteenth century texts. Analyses of Wuthering Heights, Emma, and Madame Bovary enable critique to be brought against tenets central to feminist criticism: the figure and function of the female author; the definitions of gender, desire and sexuality; the social and the sexual contracts; and the role of Oedipus in feminist-psychoanalytical debates. Moi's Sexual/Textual Politics provides a. critique of feminism, Armstrong's Desire and Domestic Fiction a feminist history of the novel, and Radway's Reading the Romance a feminist account of romance fiction.

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A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts.

Keywords

FEMINIST LITERARY CRITICISM., ENGLISH FICTION--19TH CENTURY--HISTORY AND CRITICISM., WOMEN NOVELISTS., WOMEN IN LITERATURE., FLAUBERT, GUSTAVE, 1821-1880. MADAME BOVARY.

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