Women, Writing and Language: Making the Silences Speak

Catherine Belsey and Jane Moore (eds), The Feminist Reader: Essays in Gender and the Politics of Literary Criticism (London, Macmillan, 1989). Excellent collection, primarily poststructuralist; includes important essays by Cixous, Kristeva and Spivak. Lucid introductory overview. For a fuller overview with useful chapters on French feminist theory, see Toril Moi, Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory (London and New York, Methuen, 1985).Google Scholar

Deborah Cameron, Feminism and Linguistic Theory, 2nd edn (London, Macmillan, 1992). First published in 1985. Refreshingly downtoearth guide to the complex field of contemporary linguistic theory.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Sara Mills, Lynne Pearce, Sue Spaull and Elaine Millard, Feminist Readings/ Feminists Reading (Hemel Hempstead, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989). Distinctive for being a collective venture, and for its practical application of theory to specific texts. Poststructuralist Marxistfeminism is the preferred approach. Helpful glossary.Google Scholar

Elaine Showalter (ed.), The New Feminist Criticism: Essays on Women, Literature and Theory (London: Virago, 1986). Primarily, but not exclusively, ‘AngloAmerican’ in emphasis. Contains pioneering essays by Bonnie Zimmermann (lesbian feminist criticism) and Barbara Smith (Black feminist criticism). For more recent developments in these areas, see Karla Jay and Joanne Glasgow (eds), Lesbian Texts and Contexts: Radical Revisions (New York and London, New York University Press, 1990) and Cheryl A. Wall (ed.), Changing Our Own Words: Essays on Criticism, Theory, and Writing by Black Women (London, Routledge, 1990).Google Scholar