The Erotics of Talk : Women's Writing and Feminist Paradigms

A rereading of the American feminist criticism of the past two decades and the literary canon which it has constructed as its foundation. It reads a group of works that have become feminist classics - "Jane Eyre", "The Yellow Wallpaper", "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", "Their Eyes Are Watching God" and "The Colour Purple" - focusing on how each work represents talk and how feminist criticism has talked about these representations, developing the paradigm of "erotics of talk" - the search for the ideal listener. Contents......Page 10 In Search of an Ideal Listener......Page 14 Theorizing Cultural Conversation......Page 18 The Ethics of Feminist Criticism......Page 22 Listening to Women's Writing......Page 24 The Erotics of Talk......Page 25 Stipulations: "Can We Talk?"......Page 30 I: THE POLITICS OF RECUPERATION......Page 32 Silent Heroines......Page 34 "Fantastic Collaboration" and the Politics of Identification......Page 40 (Re)Reading (Over)Reading......Page 44 Ecstatic Excavation......Page 51 Freedom, Slavery, and Contract......Page 58 Recuperating Harriet Jacobs......Page 62 Emancipatory Reading......Page 65 Narrative Contracts......Page 69 Narrative Resistance......Page 73 II: THE EROTICS OF TALK......Page 80 "Speak I Must"......Page 82 "If Any One Asks Me"......Page 89 "The Eagerness of a Listener"......Page 94 "To Pine After Kindred"......Page 97 "Jane's Tongue to My Ear"......Page 102 "That Oldest Human Longing"......Page 110 "Hungry Listening"......Page 113 "Why Don't They Come Kiss and Be Kissed?"......Page 116 "Colored Women Sittin' On High"......Page 118 "The Understandin' to Go 'Long Wid It"......Page 124 "With Their Tongues Cocked and Loaded"......Page 127 "She Tell Lies"......Page 134 "You Got to Fight"......Page 137 "I Was Dying to Tell"......Page 141 "Somebody I Can Talk To"......Page 146 "We Get Real Quiet and Listen"......Page 149 Conclusion: Auditions......Page 155 Notes......Page 176 Bibliography......Page 218 A......Page 238 C......Page 239 E......Page 241 F......Page 242 H......Page 243 I......Page 244 L......Page 245 N......Page 246 Q......Page 247 R......Page 248 S......Page 249 T......Page 250 Y......Page 251 In This Provocative Rereading Of The Classic Texts Of The Feminist Literary Canon, Carla Kaplan Takes A Hard Look At The Legacy Of Feminist Criticism And Argues That Important Features Of Feminism's Own Canon Have Been Overlooked In The Rush To Rescue And Identify. African-american Women's Texts, She Demonstrates, Often Dramatize Their Distrust Of Their Readers, Their Lack Of Faith In The Cultural Conversation, Through Strategies Of Self-silencing And Self-talk. At The Same Time, She Argues, The Homoerotics Of Women's Writing Has Too Often Gone Unremarked. Not Only Does Longing For An Ideal Listener Draw Women's Texts Into A Romance With The Reader, But There Is An Erotic Excess Which Is Part Of Feminist Critical Recuperation, Itself. Drawing On A Wide Range Of Resources, From Sociolinguistics And Anthropology To Literary Theory, Kaplan's Highly Readable Study Proposes A New Model For Understanding And Representing Talk.--jacket. Introduction: In Search Of An Ideal Listener -- 1. Silence: Reading Feminist Readings: Recuperative Reading And The Silent Heroine Of Feminist Criticism -- 2. Contracts: Recuperating Agents: Narrative Contracts, Emancipatory Readers, And Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl -- 3. Romance: Girl Talk: Jane Eyre And The Romance Of Women's Narration -- 4. Dialogue: That Oldest Human Longing: The Erotics Of Talk In Their Eyes Were Watching God -- 5. Exchange: Somebody I Can Talk To: Teaching Feminism Thought: The Color Purple. By Carla Kaplan. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 165-225) And Index.
Is feminism in crisis? With many feminists now questioning identification and focusing on differences between women, what is the fate of feminist criticism's traditional imperative to rescue women's stories and make their voices heard?

In this provocative rereading of the classic texts of the feminist literary canon, Carla Kaplan takes a hard look at the legacy of feminist criticism and argues that important features of feminism's own canon have been overlooked in the rush to rescue and identify texts. African-American women's texts, she demonstrates, often dramatize their distrust of their readers, their lack of faith in the cultural conversation, through strategies of self-silencing and self-talk. At the same time, she argues, the homoerotics of women's writing has too often gone unremarked. Not only does longing for an ideal listener draw women's texts into a romance with the reader, but there is an erotic excess which is part of feminist critical recuperation itself.

Drawing on a wide range of resources, from sociolinguistics and anthropology to literary theory, Kaplan's highly readable study proposes a new model for understanding and representing talk. She supplies fresh readings of such feminist classics as Jane Eyre, The Yellow Wallpaper, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and The Color Purple, revealing how their erotics of talk works as a rich political allegory and form of social critique.

Is feminism in "crisis?" With many feminists now questioning identification and focusing on differences between women, what is the fate of feminist criticism's traditional imperative to rescue women's stories and make their voices heard? In this provocative rereading of the classic texts of the feminist literary canon, Carla Kaplan takes a hard look at the legacy of feminist criticism and argues that important features of feminism's own canon have been overlooked in the rush to rescue and identify texts. African-American women's texts, she demonstrates, often dramatize their distrust of their readers, their lack of faith in "the cultural conversation," through strategies of self-silencing and "self-talk." At the same time, she argues, the homoerotics of women's writing has too often gone unremarked. Not only does longing for an ideal listener draw women's texts into a romance with the reader, but there is an erotic excess which is part of feminist critical recuperation itself. Drawing on a wide range of resources, from sociolinguistics and anthropology to literary theory, Kaplan's highly readable study proposes a new model for understanding and representing "talk." She supplies fresh readings of such feminist classics as Jane Eyre , "The Yellow Wallpaper," Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl , Their Eyes Were Watching God , and The Color Purple , revealing how their "erotics of talk" works as a rich political allegory and form of social critique.