Towards a New Poetics

Abstract

During the 1980s, feminist theory has risen to prominence both within the feminist movement and within the context of dominant theoretical practices. Many academic disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology and political science, as well as those concerned with art and literature, have begun to alter their theoretical and methodological approaches to accommodate the strategies of feminist theory. Likewise, the new theories of post-structuralism, Lacanian psychoanalysis, semiotics and reception theory have been radically altered by the feminist discoveries in these fields. By 1985, feminist theory had taken its place in the mainstream of the philosophical and critical applications of ideas. Within the feminist movement, theory occupies a more problematic position. Many feminists consider the pursuit of theory to be elitist. They perceive its specialised discourse as a linguistic class bias that is inaccessible to working-class women, women of colour and the broad spectrum of women who have not enjoyed the privilege of higher education.