Offers a feminist theory of ignorance that sheds light on the misunderstood or overlooked epistemic practices of women in literature.
An Ethic of Innocence examines representations of women in American and British fin-de-siècle and modern literature who seem “not to know” things. These naïve fools, Pollyannaish dupes, obedient traditionalists, or regressive anti-feminists have been dismissed by critics as conservative, backward, and out of sync with, even threatening to, modern feminist goals. Grounded in the late nineteenth century’s changing political and generic representations of women, this book provides a novel interpretative framework for reconsidering the epistemic claims of these women. Kristen L. Renzi analyzes characters from works by Henry James, Frank Norris, Ann Petry, Rebecca West, Edith Wharton, Virginia Woolf, and others, to argue that these feminine figures who choose not to know actually represent and model crucial pragmatic strategies by which modern and contemporary subjects navigate, survive, and even oppose gender oppression.

motw/An Ethic of Innocence_ Pragmati - Kristen L. Renzi.epub

motw/An Ethic of Innocence_ Pragmati - Kristen L. Renzi.pdf

zlib/no-category/Kristen L. Renzi;/An Ethic of Innocence_29661216.epub

Renzi, Kristen L.

SUNY series, studies in the long nineteenth century, Albany, 2019

United States, United States of America

Sep 01, 2019

1, 20190901

Memory of the World Librarian: outernationale

Source title: An Ethic of Innocence: Pragmatism, Modernity, and Women's Choice Not to Know (SUNY series, Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century)

"In An Ethic of Innocence, author Kristen Renzi provides a novel interpretative framework for reconsidering the epistemic claims of women in transatlantic literature from the late nineteenth century to the present. It is the first scholarly study of the ways in which gendered choices "not to know" have been represented, and critically received, within modern literature. The book grounds itself in the late nineteenth century's changing political and generic representations of women. Ultimately, it contends that these turn-of-the-century feminine figures who choose not to know, despite having been critically overlooked or dismissed as conservative or backward, can actually represent and model crucial pragmatic strategies by which modern and contemporary subjects navigate, survive, and even oppose gender oppression. Renzi offers a feminist theory of ignorance that sheds light on the misunderstood or overlooked epistemic practices of women in literature"-- Provided by publisher

2024-08-28