feminine idols throughout literary history- WOMEN's history month

 The Month of March is Women's History Month, originating as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 which authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982, as “Women’s History Week.” Throughout the next five years, Congress passed joint resolutions designating a week in March as “Women’s History Week.” In 1987 after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress passed Pub. L. 100-9 which designated the month of March 1987 as “Women’s History Month.” Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month. In today's episode, we will examine Jane Austen's presence in feminine literature and 2 other writers who paved the way for modern female authors and artists. 

Jane Austen is a very celebrated 19th-century female author, who chose once-provocative and taboo subjects to dissect and poke fun at, such as marriage, traditional western Gender roles, and the high class, she helped represent the feminist perspective, which was incredibly rare for her time. In the pantheon of literary giants, Jane Austen occupies a singular place as a champion of the feminine perspective. Austen paved the way for subsequent generations of female authors to assert their voices in the literary landscape through her nuanced portrayals of women and incisive critique of patriarchal norms. Her enduring legacy serves as a testament to the power of storytelling to illuminate the human condition and advocate for social change.

Jane Austen is a unique author because her novels are told in the third person by an omniscient narrator who has access to the thoughts and feelings of the characters. She makes use of minimal description, but instead focuses on the speech and action of her characters – if you open one of her novels at random and look at the page, you’ll see how much dialogue there is, making them feel like you too are in the room with the characters and you grow to understand them personally. 

Many believe Austen was one of the first authors to use what we now call “Free Indirect Speech” a literary technique in which the narrator’s voice shares with us the words, thoughts or feelings of the characters, without telling us that this is what they are doing. This means that the character’s thoughts or words slip into the third-person narrative, subtly shifting the perspective from that of the narrator to that of the character. It’s almost as though the narrator is the character for a moment, but they’re not – they’re still the narrator. 

Despite their limitations, Austen's heroines, particularly Elizabeth Bennet, demonstrate resilience, intelligence, and independence of thought. Elizabeth refuses to conform to societal norms by marrying for financial security alone and instead seeks a partner who respects her intellect and values. This portrayal of female agency was groundbreaking and continues to resonate with modern readers.

• Feminist Perspective Authors from each generation

1. Gregorian Era (1714- 1837)/ Regency Era (1811-1820) 

This literary era takes place mostly in the UK when the British still had significant power over the United States. The period of publication was sandwiched between the Victorian era, with its strict classicism, The Georgian poets were, by the strictest definition, those whose works appeared in a series of five anthologies named Georgian Poetry but in the context of today’s episode it did include some of the same elements such as Heteronormative Romance, Marriage and Family Buildings, hedonism (or the pursuit of self-pleasure and indulgence, the reference of sins or immoralities and sentimentality

• Jane Austen, Mary Shelly,  Anastasia Eristavi-Khoshtaria, Kato Mikeladze

2. American Romanticism- Victorian Era (1833- 1869)

After achieving independence from Britain in 1776, Americans lacked a true literary and cultural tradition of their own, so they designed Romanticism to feature elements of Emotion, Idealized Nature, Individuality, Spirituality, the awe of nature. In the Gregorian era, Marriage and Romance was a very popular theme but in the later decades of Romanticism, it idealized the world around us and our environment more than the people. 

• Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, Elizabeth Barret Bronte, Annie Bessant, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Gertrude Blood

3. Edwardian Period- Modernism (1900-1914)

With the death of Queen Victoria, a new period of literary accomplishment began. The period is marked by a celebration of British nationalism and imperialism and a condemnation of it, but in the US, this was deemed as Moderninsm, which was most known for it’s Experimentalism, Formalism, Loss and grief, Absurdity and Similar to the Romanticism, Multiple Perspectives which was very daring at the time. 

• Evangeline Holland, Beatrix Potter, Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield, Gertrude Stein, Marianne Moore, Djuna Barnes

4. Lost Generation (1917-1930) Harlem Renaissance (1919- 1937)

The Theme was introduced by Author Gertrude Stein and other authors who came of age during World War 1, this was a time of very heavy political propaganda and anxiety and paranoia among citizens that the enemy would attack at random.  are themes connected to war and its consequences, the radical change of writing style, and the cynical perspective on life. Their 'break from the past' happened not only in the topic they explored but in the form they used and then bordered on the Tragedy of the Great Depression.

• Zelda Fitzgerald, Slyvia Beach, Jean Rhys

1. Contemporary/ Southern Gothic (1935-1969)

The word refers to both poetry and prose, where prose includes works of fiction such as novels and novellas, essays, and dramatic works. Typical characteristics of the contemporary period include reality-based stories with strong characters and a believable story. Settings usually keep to the current or modern era, so futuristic and science fiction novels are rarely included in this category for example these might include novels that sound like diary entries and more life-like narratives. Southern Gothic is described more as a theme than a movement, a sub-genre of fiction that is dignified by its storytelling of deeply flawed, disturbing, or eccentric characters who may be involved in taboo situations, and witchy elements

Flannery O'Connor, Nina Fedorova, Mary Ellen Chase, Willa Cather

6.  Beats/ Confessional Poetry, Black Arts movement (1962-1977)

The four key characteristics of the Beats generation are intimate and controversial subject matters, the use of the first-person point of view, autobiographical experiences, and the careful use of craftsmanship. The Civil Rights Movement played a large role in this era, influencing African Americans to bring their perspective into the literary movement, which is still very popular today in Celebrating Black Women. Confessional poetry however is known for describing intense psychological or spiritual experiences. 

Adrienne Rich, Sylvia Plath, Carolyn Cassadey, Hettie Jones,

Bonnie Bremer, Patti Smith, Elise Cowen

5. Postmodernism (1979- 1993)

The notable literary devices of postmodern literature are paradox, unreliable narrators, unrealistic narratives, parody and dark humor. Most postmodern literature also rejects the idea of a single theme or meaning, choosing instead to have many meanings or forgo theme entirely, this was coming from the Disco Era, post-Vietnam war and the early stages of the Techonological revolution of the mid 1980’s in Industrial America. This rejection of theme and meaning is often because many of its authors and artists fail to see a singular meaning in the broken, disastrous world around them. Instead, it often enjoys poking fun at those who try to find meaning themselves

June Jordan, Kathy Acker, Isabell Allende, Margaret Atwood,

Giannina Braschi, Mary Caponegro and Amanda Vail

6. Metamodernism (1996-now)

The prefix meta is a term of Greek origin and means “after, between, beyond” That is Metamodernism is a movement that emerged and covered the period after Postmodernism. This is the societal revolution most familiar to us, where taboo subjects are more comfortably discussed and digested and the new generations challenge fundamental societal norms we’ve been used to for many generations. Metamodernism is serious and sincere, it oscillates from one polarity to another, between diametrically opposed ideas, like enthusiasm and irony, naivety and knowingness, totality and fragmentation, bright and plain, and so on, whereas Postmodernism is playful, insincere, unsteady and ironic.