Pronoun Envy - Literary Uses of Linguistic Gender

Zusatztext A valuable contribution to the series with a fascinating study of feminist writers' textual strategies surrounding the 'pronoun' problem and the respresentation of linguistic and cultural gender Klappentext Controversy over gendered pronouns! for example using the generic "he!" has been a staple of feminist arguments about patriarchal language over the last 30 years! and is certainly the most contested political issue in Western feminist linguistics. Most accounts do not extend beyond policyissues like the official institution of non-sexist language. In this volume! Anna Livia reveals continuities both before and after the sexist language refore movement and shows how the creative practices of pronoun use on the part of feminist writers had both aesthetic and political ends. Liviauses the term "pronoun envy" ironically to show that rather being a case of misguided envy! battles over gendered language are central to feminist concerns. Livia examines a broad corpus of written texts in English and French! concentrating on those texts which problematize the traditional functioning of the linguistic gender system. They range from novels and prose poems to film scripts and personal testimonies! and in time from the 19th century tothe present. Some withhold any indication of gender; others have non-gendered characters. Livia's goal is two-fold; to help bridge the divide between linguistic and literary analysis! and to show how careful study of the manipulation of linguistic gender in these texts informs larger concerns.This fresh and highly interdisciplinary work lies at the intersection of several vital areas! including language and gender! sociolinguistics! and feminist literary analysis. Zusammenfassung In this interdisciplinary book, Livia examines a broad corpus of written texts in English and French, concentrating on those texts which problematize the traditional functioning of the linguistic gender system. They range from novels and prose poems to film scripts and personal testimonies, and in time from the nineteenth century to the present. Her goal is to show that rather than being a case of misguided envy, battles over gendered language are central to feminist concerns. This fresh and exciting scholarship will appeal to linguists and scholars in literary and gender studies....

Product details

• Authors: Anna Livia, Anna (Visiting Assistant Professor of Frenc Livia, Anna (Visiting Assistant Professor of French Livia, Livia Anna
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.10.2002
• EAN: 9780195138528
• ISBN: 978-0-19-513852-8
• No. of pages: 248
• Series: Studies in Language and Gender; Studies in Language and Gender Series; Studies in Language and Gender; Studies in Language and Gender Series; Studies in Language Gender and Sexuality
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; LITERARY CRITICISM / Semiotics & Theory, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Grammar & Punctuation, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Feminism & Feminist Theory, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Syntax, LITERARY CRITICISM / Feminist, Feminism & feminist theory, Grammar, syntax & morphology, Literary theory, Grammar, syntax and morphology, Feminism and feminist theory