'We have not yet heard enough, if anything, about the female gaze': Contemporary Writing Not by Men

The concept of the "male gaze" has been central to feminist critiques of cinema. In developing the concept, Laura Mulvey refused to posit a corrective “female gaze” – which makes Maggie Nelson's remark about the female gaze in literature all the more surprising. This course discusses experimental writing primarily by women through the proposition that, without the male gaze, writing has the potential to be an “astonishing equalizer.” Writers include Cusk, Fitzgerald, Gladman, Quin, Z. Smith, Spark, S. Hartman.