Gender and Literature
A Systems Study
Published on 28. September 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
424 pages
978-0-7618-2132-8 (ISBN)
Description
Gender and Literature: A Systems Study addresses the notion of gender as a "social construct," and presents evolutionary reasons for human psycho-behavioral differentiation along the lines of sexual dimorphism of the reproductive and the related functions, which produce the main genders of femininity and masculinity, corresponding roughly with the functions of procreation and competition, respectively. These two gender-oriented poles of human behavior are intermingled in the individual mind to produce a mixture of gender traits that underlie personality and behavior. A statistical model of the overlap of the masculine and feminine traits generates eight specific gender types: the feminine woman, the womanly women, the womanly man, the androgynous man, the androgynous woman, the manly man, the manly woman, and the masculine man. Characteristics of each type are offered together with examples from a wide range of literary texts.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Lanham, MD
United States
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 34 mm
Weight
544 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7618-2132-8 (9780761821328)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Piotr Sadowski is Lecturer in English at the American College of Dublin.
Content
Chapter 1 List of Tables and Figures Chapter 2 Preface Chapter 3 Acknowledgments Chapter 4 Introduction Chapter 5 Towards Systems Theory of Gender Chapter 6 Foundations of Gender: The Psyche, Its Structure and Function Chapter 7 Origins of Gender: Genders Apart Chapter 8 Interactions Between Genders: Genders Together Chapter 9 Gender and Dynamism of Character Chapter 10 Gender in Literature Chapter 11 Literary Characters: Psychological Realism versus Narrative Fiction Chapter 12 Cupid and Psyche: A Story of Female Initiation Chapter 13 The Birth of the Hero: Heracles and Archetypal Masculinity Chapter 14 Chretien de Troyes' Erec and Enide: In Search of Gender Harmony in Marriage Chapter 15 Untying the Knot: Inversions of Gender in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Chapter 16 The Masculine in Macbeth Chapter 17 "A Delicate Bubble of Fancy:" Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest Chapter 18 Leopold Bloom: The Modern Androgynous Anti-Hero Chapter 19 The Nature of Transsexualism in I.B. Singer's Yentl the Yeshiva Boy Chapter 20 Bibliography Chapter 21 Index Chapter 22 Author Biographical Sketch