Annotated Bibliography New Women And Early Modernism

During the late 19th and early 20th century in America, the rise of Feminism challenged the traditional gender roles. The female authors of this time period represented realistic aspects of women’s struggles, which often reflected limitations from society and their own lives. The three female authors who advocated women’s struggles in their writings were Sojourner Truth, Willa Cather, and Edith Wharton. In the speech to the American Equal Rights Association, Truth reveals that women do not have rights to present their voices in the court. Cather addresses women’s devastating labor life after the marriage in “A Wagner Matinee.” Likewise, in “April Shower”, Wharton portrays men’s criticism upon economically successful women. American female authors of the late 19th and early 20th century demonstrates the ideas of Feminism by men objecting to representation in politics, prohibiting career over marriage, and criticizing economic self-sufficiency.

Feminist criticism is often defined as a literary analysis that arises from the viewpoint of feminism, feminist theory, and/or feminist politics (Napikoski). Feminist criticism can be divided into two parts. The first type of feminist criticism revolves around the idea of the woman being the reader of male-constructed literature. This type of feminist criticism consists of the female reader focusing on stereotypes and misconceptions about women. The second type of feminist criticism concentrates on the woman being the writer. This type of feminist criticism demonstrates history, themes, genres, and structures of literature by women. In the past, it was very common for literature that had been constructed by men to be taken into consideration more than literature composed by women. Both “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett were written in the 1800’s and revolved around the point of view of females. Both of these authors use symbolism in order to represent and enhance the ideas of feminism in their stories.

The feminist movement lays claim to a history of both victorious struggle and violent controversy. As women fought for equality with men in the early twentieth century, literature was inspired by this movement. Modernist writers used their artform to provide social commentary in similar ways to realistic writers of the nineteenth century. However, modernist thought allows a much more obvious agenda to be presented through literature. Mina Loy, in “Feminist Manifesto,” and Susan Glaspell, in “Trifles,” both used their respective writings to convey personal opinions on the women’s movement and the relationship between men and women. Though this similarity places them in the same category of modernism, the two differ in their writings

Ever since the days of World War I, women have been seen as second rate to men. They had to live up to many social standards that men didn’t have to and had strict guidelines on how to live their lives. This all changed when modernism deliberately tried to break away from Victorian Era standards in which women were subjugated to a lot more scrutiny. Ezra Pound, who was a large figure in the modernist movement, captured the spirit of the era in his famous line “Make it new!” Consequently, many writers started to experiment with many different and wild writing styles, which led to the short stories and poems we have today. The stories The Wife of His Youth and Mrs. Spring Fragrance were all written in this era of modernism. While they are written in a more traditional style of writing, both these stories have strong implications on feminism from the viewpoints of both male and female writers.

This paper deals with the concern of celebrating feminism. The representatives of this act with the causes and effects are discussed in detail with a special reference to the novels of Maya Angelouand Toni Morrison. African American women’s writing and its impact in the society are immense. The twentieth century has been a revolutionary era for the African American literature because many women writers contributed to the growth of feminist writings during this century. These black writers expressed themselves and created a deep impact on the African American, literary arena. The works of these women writers reflect

She was a mother, a moral and political philosopher, a writer, and a feminist. Mary Wollstonecraft was the ideal image of what represented the push towards modern feminism. Some may even consider her as the founding mother of modern feminism itself. Much of Wollstonecraft’s literature is influenced by her own life experiences. In 1785, Wollstonecraft took on an employment opportunity as a governess. While spending most of her time there, she had a moment of epiphany where she realized that she was not suited for domestic work. Soon after, she returned to London and became a translator and wrote for a well-known publisher and discovered her love of writing. Eventually, years later she was then able to publish her most notable work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is still a very popular book which can be seen as a guide to becoming a better citizen and understanding feminism in a critical context. This essay will argue that Mary Wollstonecraft is still relevant to the feminist cause today as her views portrayed in her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman are still relatable to many of the feminist issues that currently exist around the world. This essay will do so by comparing how her views in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman can still be used as guiding principles to tackle feminist matters.

This essay analyses the aesthetic and ideological underpinnings of the Modernist artwork, Impression, Sunrise of Claude Monet. The artwork and Impressionism is considered to be a visual articulation of the avant-garde and the latter statement is explained. References to the writings of Charles Harrison, Clement Greenberg and Wilhelm Worringer is used to theorise the aesthetics of modernity.

In comparing the three authors and the literary works of women authors Kate Chopin (1850 -1904), The Awakening, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's (1860-1935), The Yellow Wallpaper, and Edith Wharton's (1862-1937) Souls Belated, a good number common social issues related to women are brought to light and though subtly pointed out are an outcry against the conventions of the time. In these three stories, which were written between 1899 and 1913, the era was a time in which it seems, that women had finally awaken to realize their social oppression and were becoming rebellious in their pursuit of freedom from

Throughout history, women have been fighting for equality and personal freedom in patriarchal societies. One avenue that feminist activist used to speak out against female oppression was literature. As G.H. Lewes put it in his 1852 literary work “The Lady Novelists,” “The advent of female literature promises woman's view of life, woman's experience: in other words, a new element” (Lewes). This new element was definitely propagated by two literary leaders for women’s rights in the Victorian Era feminist movement, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin. These women were both part of the realism movement that rose to prominence in American literature during the 19th century and used their stories to shed light on the problem of female

Anna Barbauld’s “The Rights of Women” (1792), is an intricate poem that was written with a distinct perspective that many female poets would have taken during the Romantics era. The poem begins with a very passive aggressive yet persuasive invitation to take action on the way women are perceived. Barbauld’s feministic voice is heard throughout the entirety of the poem as she is trying to empower women with her passionate words, yet by reading the last two stanzas we realizes she contradicts her concept on her own feministic beliefs and thoughts. Reexamining the poem reveals a sarcastic tone other than the devotee-like tone that we had assumed was being interpreted as. One can conclude that Anna Barbauld's poem is not about feminism but is

The mistrust of the world which is at the center of modernism can be attributed to the world wars and the psychological effect that it had on the individual. The horrors and violence altered public perceptions of life, a change that is evident within writers of the time period. The focus of writing shifted from the outward world to inner thoughts and feelings and overall representation of an individual’s stream of consciousness which are themes associated with modern text. In “Impact of Modernism”, focuses on the idea that world needed new outlets for expression and in finding them rejected the tradition that was already there with the quote, “Many modernists believed that by rejecting tradition they could discover radically new ways of making art.” (Impact) .The world no longer had the beauty it once did so a a discovery of new arts were needed. The mind of an individual became that new found inspiration and beauty that modern writers needed and for that reason it was one of the main focuses of modern

1. Literary criticisms have been developed by a variety of different authors and critics. There are hundreds of different ways in which one can analyze a text. One of the more popular forms of literary criticism is feminist criticism. Throughout history men have been dominant over women and this reflects in writing and literature.

What is feminism? What makes someone a feminist? In today’s society, a common answer might be “an angry lesbian that hates men.” However, feminism as defined by the OED, is “the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” Simply put, a feminist is someone who believes that women and men should be treated equally, regardless of gender. The rise in feminism is due in part to the multiple waves of feminist movements that have raised awareness concerning gender inequalities and women’s experiences. In this essay, we will aim to explore second-wave feminism, how second-wave feminist poets used poetry to bring gender equality to the forefront of the discussion, and its ever-lasting impact on our society.

In the early nineteen century, women were not explicitly part of literature. they were used male pseudonym to publish their works. However, later in the century, there was a shift in women’s implication in literature. women began to be publicly recognized as writers, and they were using their writings to advocate for women’s rights and to reject stereotypes that were commonly associated with them. For example, in the early nineteen century, books and novels were mostly describing “piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity” as attributes of a good woman (Fortin). Writings by women were describing women that where rejecting values of the patriarchal society; women that wanted freedom and independence. The writings of Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman exemplify the features of the Feminist phase of female literary tradition. Published respectively in 1892 and 1895, “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin are the quintessence of feminist literature. They both used characterization, setting, ad irony to protest a misogynistic society and to request women’s rights and autonomy.

Before examining the modernist elements in the above mentioned novels, I would like to look at some of the features of Modernism.