Women in Literature – An Odyssey of the Feminine Imaginary
The purpose of the following article is to present a panorama of the main positions of women in literature (reader, especially as critic, character and writer) and some of the most important aspects of the feminine imaginary. Starting as readers for pleasure, women became rational literary critics in the 20th century, especially when feminist criticism established “gender” as a fundamental category for the literary analysis. As a writer, woman had been considered a real monster for long time, because she abandoned the angelic image of the patriarchal ages, for the image of a person in creative action. The feminine imaginary could be reduced at some general patterns, more or less important matters for women’s universe and peripheral for men’s world. In fact, a real writer should speaks from the both points of view, male or female, being so close to androgyny.
Keywords: women, reader, writer, feminist criticism, feminine literature, feminine imaginary, androgyny
10.ibidem, p. 55
33.ibidem, p. 11 Pompiliu Constantinescu, Scrieri, vol.IV, Bucureşti, Editura Minerva, 1970, p. 81