Gender and Reading: Essays on Readers, Texts and Contexts / Edition 1

by Elizabeth A. Flynn, Patrocinio P. Schweickart

Overview

If reading constitutes an active process of producing meaning, as many theorists contend, what impact does gender have on that process? In twelve essays, specialists in literature and psychology explre the many dimensions of this question. The result is a highly provocative encounter between feminist and reader-response criticsm, an articulation provising significant insights for both fields.

Gender and Reading comprises three interdependent sections. The first presents the central theoretical issues: gender as a factor in perception, gender as an incription in both text and reader, and sexual orientation as a source of identity in a female reader's interaction with a text. The second section focuses on particualr literary works, written by both men and women and representing various historical periods from the Renaissance to the twentieth century. Finally, the book examines the significance of gender in the actual reading behavior. These chapters include descriptions of reasearch among different types and groupd of readers.

As the first book-length study of the relationship between gender and reading, this volume makes substantial contributions to women's studies and literary theory. Its unique synthesis enlarges the scope and critical power of both reader-response and feminist thought.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801829079
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	02/01/1986
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Elizabeth A. Flynn is associate professor of reading and composition, coordinator of writing programs, and director of the Institute for research on Language and Learning at Michigan Technological University. She is the editor of Reader: Essays in Reader-Oriented Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy.

Patrocinio P. Schweickart is associate professor of English at the University of New Hampshire. Her essay "Reading Ourselves: Toward a Feminist Theory of Reading" won the 1984 Florence Howe Award for Outstanding Feminist Scholarship.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Part I. Research and Theory
Chapter 1. The Reader's Consturction of Meaning: Cognitive Research on Gender and Comprehension
Chapter 2. Reading Ourselves: Toward a Feminist Theory of Reading
Chapter 2. Ourself behind Ourself: A Theory for Lesbian Readers
Part II. Texts
Chapter 4. Taking the Gold Out of Egypt: The Art of Reading as a Woman
Chapter 5. Fathers and Daughters:" Women as Readers of the Tatler
Chapter 6. Malraux's Women: A Re-vision
Chapter 7. Reading about Reading: "A Jury of Her Peers," "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," and "The Yellow Wallpaper"
Chapter 8. "As the Twig Is Bent . . .": Gender and Childhood Reading
Part III. Readers
Chapter 10. Gothic Possibilities
Chapter 11. Gender Interests in Reading and Language
Chaper 12. Gender and Reading
A Selected Annotated Bibliography
Contributors

Editorial Reviews

An unprecedented encounter between feminist criticism, reading-research and reader-response criticism . . . I found Gender and Reading a valuable book to read as a feminist critic. Valuable because it asserts our rights, as women, to read; to read as women. Valuable because it begins a dialogue among so many varieties of criticism and theory.
—Susan Squier, Women's Review of Books.

From the Publisher

An unprecedented encounter between feminist criticism, reading-research and reader-response criticism... I found Gender and Reading a valuable book to read as a feminist critic. Valuable because it asserts our rights, as women, to read; to read as women. Valuable because it begins a dialogue among so many varieties of criticism and theory.

— Susan Squier

Women's Review of Books.

An unprecedented encounter between feminist criticism, reading-research and reader-response criticism... I found Gender and Reading a valuable book to read as a feminist critic. Valuable because it asserts our rights, as women, to read; to read as women. Valuable because it begins a dialogue among so many varieties of criticism and theory.

Women's Review of Books. - Susan Squier