The erotics of talk : womens'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 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.