Since the feminist movement there have been essays gallore about how the woman differs from the man. It is a fact that the world knew since the creation of the human race. However, the woman was not always on top. The respect has grown and all for the better in my opinion, but then again I am a woman. I knew that eventually we would come across an essay in Keesey where he would choose an author to give us the feminist reading of one of the works we are studying. While this is already known, the man reads differently than a woman. For example a woman may focus on the feelings the characters are giving off, while the male may focus on the situation in general. (Note to the men in our class: Please do not comment that that is not how you think and you are a male. I know that already it was just an example.)
I know that Vanessa already quoted this section, but I found it pretty interesting in the whole sceme of things. Kolodny says that "...[Gilman and Glaspell] do, nonetheless, insist that, however inadvertently, he is a different kind of reader and that, where women are concerned, he is often an inadequate reader" (201).
What do I find interesting in this quotation you ask? Well I find it very interesting that Kolodny felt that while Glaspell and Gilman were trying to teach the males that were reading their story something, they already had it in their heads that the men they were tyring to reach weren't going to get it. I know that these stories were written for a different time period, but I think that the men nowadays really do get it. At least from the discussions that have occured in class about Gilman's short story and from what I remember of Glaspell's short story as well. I'm not sure that Kolodny really thought that the men today could interpret the signs. I really strive to be open minded about things (although my openmindedness is usually the result of my naievness) and in that aspect I alwasy think that I miss the points behind feminist readings/writings. Anyone is welcome to help me out, but I'm not promising that I will understand.
Posted by Tiffany Brattina at February 19, 2007 7:58 PM | TrackBackPersonally, I thought that the Kolodny essay was my least favorite, only because of the presentation of the material she is trying to present. I understand a feminist essay is usually meant to be related to the authorial intent or the mimetic factor of the story, but to bash another gender's competence that they will not understand something a way that the other understands is totally bogus. If it is associated with the historical aspects, that the women would understand something that men didn't, then it makes some more sense, but if the argument is on today's readers, then she is seriously out of her mind. This is by far my least favorite essay. I know that I usually do not say whether I enjoy an essay, but this is a case to which I was so glad to be finished with it.
Posted by: Jason Pugh at February 21, 2007 3:09 PM