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The subject is dead, long live the female subject!

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Abstract

If the model of the humanist subject (that self-sufficient agent of unique thought, speech and action) has been exploded by postmodern revision, what remains for feminists, still seeking a subjectivity of their own? To what degree has the humanist model of the subject eclipsed the feminine, and is it possible to reformulate a female subjectivity outside the masculine economy? Recent feminist philosophy suggests (partial) answers to the questions raised in the debate over women’s self-definition.

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Eileen Schlee is currently completing doctoral studies at the University of Hawaii, where she will serve as lecturer in the Department of English (Fall 1993). Her undergraduate degree is from Williams College, Massachusetts. During her five years’ residency in Australia she earned both a Graduate Diploma in Education and a Master of Arts in English from the University of Melbourne. She also taught English for two years at Star of the Sea College (Melbourne). Her field of research and writing is Australian literature, literary theory and writing by women.

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Schlee, E. The subject is dead, long live the female subject!. Feminist Issues 13, 69–80 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02685735

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