The sounds of feminist theory

Product Description

Reads a wide range of contemporary feminist theorists to show how they invest in sound as a medium of critical thought.



Review

“The author distinguishes her approach from the familiar feminist thematization of ‘voice’ (in opposition to silence) as a trope for agency, creativity, and empowerment, and distinguishes what she calls the ‘O’ from simple ‘orality’―the ‘O’ being the marker for the ways in which something about orality―sonority, rhythm, physicality, etc.―is being deliberately used in written language in order to produce certain critical and transformative effects.” ― Patrocinio P. Schweickart, University of New Hampshire

“Salvaggio gives a wonderfully nuanced exposition of feminist critical discourse as both interdisciplinary and part of―a leader in―a larger theoretical discourse that has shaped the study of literature over the past twenty years. She provides one of the clearest discussions of the French critics (Kristeva, Irigaray, Cixous) that I have read, and a very nice summary of lesbian criticism and queer theory.” ― Susanne Woods, Franklin & Marshall College

“Salvaggio is identifying what may well be recognized twenty years from now as a major and permanent change in how we understand and articulate critical discourse.” ― Michelle A. Massé, Louisiana State University

About the Author

Ruth Salvaggio is Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico. She is the author of Dryden’s Dualities and Enlightened Absence: Neoclassical Configurations of the Feminine; and coeditor, with the Folger Collective on Early Women Critics, of Women Critics, 1660–1820.