Feminism in English Literature notes for UGC NET/SET/JRF – key critics, concepts, important works, and MCQs for exam preparation.

Feminism in English Literature: Key Concepts, Critics, and Works for UGC NET/SET/JRF

✅ Introduction:

Are you preparing for UGC NET, SET, or JRF in English Literature? 📚 One of the most important areas in literary theory is Feminist Criticism and Feminist Literature. From Mary Wollstonecraft’s pioneering work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) to Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble (1990) and the #MeToo movement in Fourth-Wave Feminism, the evolution of feminist thought has shaped how we read, write, and understand literature.

In exams like UGC NET English, students are often asked about major feminist critics (Elaine Showalter, Kate Millett, Gilbert & Gubar, Hélène Cixous, Simone de Beauvoir, bell hooks), their key concepts (Patriarchy, Gynocriticism, The Other, Écriture Féminine, Intersectionality), and important texts (A Room of One’s Own, The Second Sex, The Madwoman in the Attic, Sexual Politics).

This guide provides a complete list of important feminist terms, critics, and literary works, along with MCQs for practice, to help you master this topic and boost your score in NET/SET/JRF English Literature.

When we say “First-wave, Second-wave, Third-wave, Fourth-wave Feminism”, we mean the different stages in the history of feminism, each with its own focus, goals, and thinkers.

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🌊 First Wave (1800s – early 1900s)

👉 Focus = Basic Rights (vote, property, education).

• Example: Mary Wollstonecraft said women deserve education.

• Goal: Women should be treated equally in law and politics.

• • Mary Wollstonecraft – A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)

  • J.S. Mill & Harriet Taylor – The Subjection of Women (1869)

  • Sojourner Truth – Ain’t I a Woman? (speech, 1851)

  • Charlotte Perkins Gilman – Women and Economics (1898), The Yellow Wallpaper (1892)

  • Sarah Grand – “The New Woman” essay (1894)

  • Virginia Woolf – A Room of One’s Own (1929) → transitional text between 1st & 2nd wave

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🌊 Second Wave (1960s–1980s)

👉 Focus = Society & Culture (patriarchy, roles, workplace).

• Example: Simone de Beauvoir (The Second Sex) said: “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”

• Goal: Women should have freedom, equality in family, workplace, sexuality.

• Famous line: “The personal is political” → even home life is linked to politics.

• Simone de Beauvoir – The Second Sex (1949) → “One is not born, but becomes a woman.”

• Betty Friedan – The Feminine Mystique (1963) → problem of suburban housewives

• Kate Millett – Sexual Politics (1970) → Patriarchy as power system

• Germaine Greer – The Female Eunuch (1970)

• Mary Ellmann – Thinking About Women (1968) → stereotypes of women in lit.

• Adrienne Rich – Of Woman Born (1976), “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” (1980)

• Elaine Showalter – A Literature of Their Own (1977), Towards a Feminist Poetics (1979) → Gynocriticism, 3 phases of women’s writing

• Sandra Gilbert & Susan Gubar – The Madwoman in the Attic (1979)

• Hélène Cixous – “The Laugh of the Medusa” (1975) → écriture féminine

• Julia Kristeva – “Women’s Time” (1979), Revolution in Poetic Language (1974)

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🌊 Third Wave (1990s–2000s)

👉 Focus = Differences among women (race, class, sexuality).

• Example: Judith Butler (Gender Trouble) said gender is not fixed, it’s performed.

• Goal: Respect diversity → not all women are the same, experiences differ.

• Judith Butler – Gender Trouble (1990) → Gender performativity

• bell hooks – Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism (1981); Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984)

• Alice Walker – In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens (1983) → Womanism

• Kimberlé Crenshaw – Intersectionality (1989 essay Mapping the Margins)

• Rebecca Walker – Becoming the Third Wave (1992, essay; she popularized the phrase “Third Wave Feminism”)

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🌊 Fourth Wave (2010s–today)

👉 Focus = Internet & Global activism.

• Example: #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.

• Goal: Stop violence against women, demand inclusivity (LGBTQ+, body positivity, etc.).

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📌 In short:

• First wave = Rights (vote, law).

• Second wave = Equality in life & culture.

• Third wave = Diversity, intersectionality.

• Fourth wave = Digital feminism, #MeToo, global issues.

📖 Major Works in Feminist Literature & Criticism

🟢 Foundational Feminist Texts

• Mary Wollstonecraft – A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)

• John Stuart Mill – The Subjection of Women (1869)

• Virginia Woolf – A Room of One’s Own (1929)

• Virginia Woolf – Professions for Women (1931, essay)

• Simone de Beauvoir – The Second Sex (1949)

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🟢 Second-Wave Feminism (1960s–1980s)

• Betty Friedan – The Feminine Mystique (1963)

• Kate Millett – Sexual Politics (1970)

• Germaine Greer – The Female Eunuch (1970)

• Mary Ellmann – Thinking About Women (1968)

• Adrienne Rich – Of Woman Born (1976)

• Adrienne Rich – Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence (1980, essay)

• Elaine Showalter – A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Brontë to Lessing (1977)

• Elaine Showalter – Towards a Feminist Poetics (1979, essay introducing Gynocriticism)

• Sandra Gilbert & Susan Gubar – The Madwoman in the Attic (1979)

• Hélène Cixous – The Laugh of the Medusa (1975, essay on écriture féminine)

• Julia Kristeva – Revolution in Poetic Language (1974)

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🟢 Third-Wave Feminism & Beyond (1980s–2000s)

• Alice Walker – In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose (1983)

• bell hooks – Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism (1981)

• bell hooks – Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984)

• Kimberlé Crenshaw – Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics (1989 essay)

• Judith Butler – Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990)

• Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak – Can the Subaltern Speak? (1988)

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🟢 Key Literary Works by Women

• Charlotte Brontë – Jane Eyre (1847)

• Emily Brontë – Wuthering Heights (1847)

• George Eliot – Middlemarch (1871–72)

• Elizabeth Gaskell – North and South (1854)

• Kate Chopin – The Awakening (1899)

• Charlotte Perkins Gilman – The Yellow Wallpaper (1892, short story)

• Doris Lessing – The Golden Notebook (1962)

• Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)

• Angela Carter – The Bloody Chamber (1979, short stories)

• Toni Morrison – The Bluest Eye (1970)

• Sylvia Plath – The Bell Jar (1963)

• Adrienne Rich – Diving into the Wreck (1973, poetry)

📖 Important Feminist Literary Concepts & Thinkers

1. The Other

• Thinker: Simone de Beauvoir

• Work: The Second Sex (1949)

• Idea: Woman is defined as “the Other” in relation to man (the norm). Man = subject, woman = object.

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2. Sex vs. Gender

• Thinker: Simone de Beauvoir (earlier); developed by Judith Butler later.

• Idea:

  • Sex = biological (male/female).

  • Gender = social & cultural roles (masculine/feminine).

• Famous line: “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”

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3. Gynocriticism

• Thinker: Elaine Showalter

• Work: Towards a Feminist Poetics (1979)

• Idea: Study of women as writers – their themes, styles, genres, history – instead of only studying how men represent women.

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4. Three Phases of Women’s Writing

• Thinker: Elaine Showalter

• Work: A Literature of Their Own (1977)

• Idea:

  1. Feminine phase (1840–80) → Women imitated men, often using pseudonyms.

  2. Feminist phase (1880–1920) → Protest against male domination.

  3. Female phase (1920–present) → Women focus on self-discovery, female identity.

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5. The Madwoman in the Attic

• Thinkers: Sandra Gilbert & Susan Gubar

• Work: The Madwoman in the Attic (1979)

• Idea: In male literature, women are often shown as either angels (pure, submissive) or monsters/madwomen (rebellious). Example: Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre.

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6. Intersectionality

• Thinker: Kimberlé Crenshaw (law scholar, 1989)

• Idea: Women’s oppression is not the same everywhere – it depends on race, class, sexuality, culture. Black, Asian, or Dalit women face different struggles than white middle-class women.

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7. Écriture Féminine (Women’s Writing)

• Thinker: Hélène Cixous (French feminist)

• Work: The Laugh of the Medusa (1975)

• Idea: Women should write in a new style that expresses the female body, sexuality, and experience – breaking away from patriarchal language.

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8. Patriarchy

• Thinker: Kate Millett

• Work: Sexual Politics (1970)

• Idea: Patriarchy is a system where men control women socially, politically, and sexually. Literature reflects and reinforces this power.

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9. Feminist Phase Criticism (Representation of Women)

• Thinker: Early feminist critics (1960s–70s) like Mary Ellmann (Thinking About Women, 1968).

• Idea: Analyzed stereotypes of women in literature (woman as angel, witch, virgin, temptress).

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10. Womanism

• Thinker: Alice Walker

• Work: In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens (1983)

• Idea: Focus on the experiences of Black women – more inclusive than mainstream feminism.

📖 MCQs on Feminism in Literature

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Q1. Who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), one of the earliest feminist texts?

a) Virginia Woolf
b) Mary Wollstonecraft
c) Kate Millett
d) Simone de Beauvoir

Ans: b) Mary Wollstonecraft

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Q2. The phrase “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” is associated with:

a) Kate Millett
b) Simone de Beauvoir
c) Elaine Showalter
d) Hélène Cixous

Ans: b) Simone de Beauvoir

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Q3. Which feminist critic introduced the concept of Gynocriticism?

a) Sandra Gilbert
b) Julia Kristeva
c) Elaine Showalter
d) bell hooks

Ans: c) Elaine Showalter

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Q4. The Madwoman in the Attic (1979) was written by:

a) Hélène Cixous
b) Sandra Gilbert & Susan Gubar
c) Adrienne Rich
d) Judith Butler

Ans: b) Sandra Gilbert & Susan Gubar

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Q5. Which work by Virginia Woolf discusses women’s creativity and financial independence?

a) Three Guineas
b) Professions for Women
c) A Room of One’s Own
d) To the Lighthouse

Ans: c) A Room of One’s Own

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Q6. The term Écriture Féminine (women’s writing) was coined by:

a) Hélène Cixous
b) Julia Kristeva
c) Simone de Beauvoir
d) Adrienne Rich

Ans: a) Hélène Cixous

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Q7. Who coined the term Intersectionality in feminist theory?

a) bell hooks
b) Kimberlé Crenshaw
c) Alice Walker
d) Rebecca Walker

Ans: b) Kimberlé Crenshaw

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Q8. Sexual Politics (1970), which analyzed patriarchy in literature, was written by:

a) Kate Millett
b) Elaine Showalter
c) Betty Friedan
d) Germaine Greer

Ans: a) Kate Millett

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Q9. Which text is considered the foundational work of Third-Wave Feminism?

a) Gender Trouble (1990)
b) The Female Eunuch (1970)
c) The Feminine Mystique (1963)
d) A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)

Ans: a) Gender Trouble (1990)

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Q10. The phrase “Angel in the House”, later critiqued by Virginia Woolf, was originally from:

a) A novel by Charlotte Brontë
b) A poem by Coventry Patmore
c) An essay by John Stuart Mill
d) A play by Henrik Ibsen

Ans: b) A poem by Coventry Patmore

Term	Coined By	Work / Context	Year
The Other	Simone de Beauvoir	The Second Sex	1949
Patriarchy (modern feminist use)	Kate Millett	Sexual Politics	1970
Gynocriticism	Elaine Showalter	Towards a Feminist Poetics	1979
Three Phases of Women’s Writing	Elaine Showalter	A Literature of Their Own	1977
Écriture Féminine (Women’s Writing)	Hélène Cixous	The Laugh of the Medusa	1975
Madwoman in the Attic	Sandra Gilbert & Susan Gubar	The Madwoman in the Attic	1979
Womanism	Alice Walker	In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens	1983
Intersectionality	Kimberlé Crenshaw	Legal essay (on Black women’s experience)	1989
Double Bind	Robin Lakoff	Language and Woman’s Place	1975
Phallocentrism	Jacques Derrida (used by feminists later)	Critique of Freud/Lacan	1960s
Compulsory Heterosexuality	Adrienne Rich	Essay: Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence	1980
Gender Performativity	Judith Butler	Gender Trouble	1990
Angel in the House	Coventry Patmore (poem, 1854) → critiqued by Virginia Woolf	Professions for Women essay	1931
New Woman	Late Victorian feminists / Sarah Grand (1894 essay)	Symbol of independent womanhood	1890s
Feminist Phase Criticism	Mary Ellmann	Thinking About Women	1968
Androgyny (literary creativity)	Virginia Woolf	A Room of One’s Own	1929