This paper evaluates the definitional limitations within lesbian theory as a method of literary critique.
Written in 2008; 4,695 words; 8 sources; MLA; $ 121.95
Paper Summary:
This paper explains that lesbian theory has struggled with definition. The author points out that, by its very nature, lesbian theory addresses the notion of the lesbian as 'an other', an entity marginalized beyond the dominant, patriarchal center of society. The paper stresses that, because the lesbian theory asserts its own ability to independently encompass the lesbian experience, this theory fails to acknowledge the complex and fluid nature of this otherness. The author relates that another more fundamental flaw is that, because it tries to empower the lesbian who finds her words relegated to the darker corners of the literary world, too often the theory tends toward a complete avoidance of exclusivity. The paper applies several existing modes of lesbian theory to Alicia Gaspar de Alba's book "Desert Blood" and to the poems of Emily Dickinson to reveal the extent to which these definitional flaws must be addressed.
From the Paper:
"In "The Safe Sea of Women", Bonnie Zimmerman discusses the poem "I showed her Heights she never saw" by Emily Dickinson, calling it, "suggestively lesbian". Similarly, in "What is Lesbian Literature?", Lillian Faderman cites the poem "Her sweet Weight on my Heart at Night" as reason to include Dickinson's work in the canon of lesbian fiction even though, "there are no explicit suggestions of lesbian sexual relations in her poems." . Thus, both Zimmerman and Faderman assume the authority to label these poems as lesbian texts based entirely on personal assumptions made about Dickinson."
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