Is Feminist Literary Criticism Becoming Anti-Feminist?

Abstract

JANE AUSTEN EXPRESSES MY DIS-EASE with the current state of feminist literary criticism. Born from the women's movement and committed to the goals of feminism, this body of work has literally exploded over the last decade. Although there is feminist literary criticism being produced by non-academics, the economics of production and publication have ensured that most of the material widely circulated is written by academics. As feminist literary criticism has gradually gained a foothold inside the academy, and as feminist critics have become more sophisticated in their analyses, the link to feminist goals has become less obvious. Indeed I fear that the critical theory and specialized language being employed by some critics have not only severed the connection to feminist ideals but actually turned against them. That is, by employing a language and theory unknown to the non-professional reader, a language and theory which can be exclusive, belligerent and anti-feminist, feminist critics may have turned their backs on the very readers for whom we supposedly exist.