Gender and Literature edited by Iqbal Kaur. B.R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi] Reviewed by: Aruti Nayar Feminist criticism has come a long way from the days of G.H. Lewes who summed up the male dominated society’s attitude to the writing women when he said:
Are there no husbands, lovers, brother’s friends to cuddle and console? Are there no stockings to darn, no purses to make, no braces to embroider? My idea of a perfect woman is one who can write but won’t G.H, Lewes, “A gentle hint to writing women” 1850. Not only do women write and are written about, but their writing is taken seriously by critics.
“Gender and Literature”, a collection of 14 essays edited by Iqbal Kaur, is a valuable contribution to the growing subcultural terrain of feminist discourse.
Feminism may not be new to India, but only in recent times has it begun to find staunch adherents among academics. An effort is afoot to understand the matrix of female oppression within the broader context of innumerable theories made available by the West. About two centuries ago, way back in the 18th century, Mary Wollstonecraft sounded the first bugle through her seminal’ work, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”. Then came John Student Mill’s! The Subjection of Woman” in 1869 and Margaret Fuller’s “An American Woman in nineteenth century” in’1845.
An important Landmark in the evolution of feminist criticism was Simone de Beauvoir’s “Le Deuxieme Sexe” (“The Second Sex”) in 1949, this was a seminal work which questioned the position/and role of woman in society and was a critique of woman’s cultural identification. Beauvoir’s writing was political in tone and she was the first to examine ways in which men depict women in fiction.
In the late 1960s Mary Ellman, Germaine Greer, Kate Millett and Elaine Showalter contributed substantially to feminist criticism though much of what they wrote remained essentially polemical in nature, it is against this backdrop that ‘one should approach and understand some of the preoccupations, ‘concerns and even motivations of Indian scholars making forays into feminism. Iqbal Kaur’s effort in compiling and editing the book is commendable. “Gender and Literature” ‘is neatly divided into two Sections. Section one deals with the theoretical problem of feminism and discusses certain alternative gender and narrative strategic. At the same time, it throws light on some aspects of feminism and feminist epistemology relevant to Indian society.
Particularly noteworthy in this section are extremely lucid, well-argued and sharply defined essays by Jasbir Jain, C.T. Indra and Jaidev.
Jasbir Jain deals with the question: Do women writers write differently? She argues that women as writers and readers are likely to have perceptions different from those of men.
C.T. Indra in her eminently readable article raises a question which concerns us nearer home: Is there an Indian ideology regarding woman’s rights and status? While arguing that the impact of patriarchy on Indian society varies from the one in the West, Indra reveals a keen insight into our cultural situation; In Section Two there are articles which show how different feminist readings could be presented using a few theoretical constructs. Purim Junejo’s paper “Treatment ‘of the New Woman in the fiction of Fitzgerald Hemingway, Faulkner, Mailer, Bellow and Updike” attempts to focus on the New Woman sexually uninhibited, confident, assertive and intelligent. Someone who has the power to offer a psychological threat to male dominance, ‘Though the essay is incisive and well argued, I wish the writer had not given short shrift to so many novelists in a single essay. The subject is such that it can easily be.
Blown into the proportions of a Ph.D. thesis.
Ramesh. Srivastava talks about the image of woman as possessor in Kamala Markandaya’s novel “Possession”. He sees it as an expression of divided consciousness which appears to have found its natural expression in ant patriarchal rage, Iqbal Kaur’s own essay on comparative literature provides interesting insights into the process of exclusion, marginalization and victimization of women, particularly in the postcolonial situation.
On the whole, the book is well conceived and well brought out. Its importance for the scholar and the layman alike can hardly be overemphasized. However there are certain irritants by way of typographical errors. Fitzgerald without a “g” is just one instance. Published under New World Literature Series one hopes the book will lead to many more such ventures, While Anglo-American critics and theorists have been primarily conceded with thematic studies of writings by and about women, French feminist critics have been conceded with the theory of the role of gender in writing.
Following the French, we do need an authentic book for those interested in the critique of language, Perhaps a similar collection of essays dealing with theories of post Structuralism, semiotics, deconstruction and the concept of “scripture feminine” will fill the slot. Any takers?
Article extracted from this publication >> November 11, 1994
