Dale Spender – лучшие книги

Examines the role of women writers in the development of the novel, suggests why they have been ignored by previous criticism, and looks at writings of the most significant women authors.

In THE WRITING OR THE SEX? Spender questions the differences between female and male literature. Taking the view that the difference lies not within the writing itself, but in the response to the writing, she writes that men have been in charge of according value to literature, and that they have found the contributions of their own sex immeasurably superior. With her usual wit and easy-to-read, yet incisive style, the author presents evidence for a form of literary criticism which takes account of the exploitative practices of men.

In chapters such as "The Lesser Value of Women's Words," "Experience Without a Name," and "The Problem is Power, Not Women," Dale Spender presents a compelling and practical analysis of the androcentric construction of the English language: its social context, vocabulary, syntax, history, and usage. Starting from the understanding that "Language helps form the limits of our reality," she examines the male-oriented assumptions of the science of linguistics, specifically the premise of "female deficiency" predominant in earlier research: "When the starting premise is that women lack the forcefulness and effectiveness of men's language, then hypotheses and explanations are formulated to account for female hesitancy." In "Plus and Minus Male" she adds weight to Julia Stanley's earlier, ground-breaking linguistic research - now widely accepted - showing "Masculinity is the unmarked form: the assumption is that the world is male unless proven otherwise. Femininity is the marked form: it is the proof of otherwise." Examples abound: doctor, woman doctor; writer, woman writer. There are literally fewer nouns in English to refer to females; when the female noun does exists, it often denigrates through the use of suffixes denoting "lesser," as in waitress, stewardess, majorette. If you are interested in the English language, make time to read this feminist classic so that you might think, laugh, get mad, get sad, and maybe change the ways you talk and listen.

This is a study of women's thoughts and ideas spanning three centuries. The author contends that men have removed women from literary and historical records and deprived women of the knowledge of their intellectual heritage. This book is an attempt to redress the balance.