Women ‘doing’ Theory: Locating Feminist Theories of Knowledge in a PostTheoretic World

Feminist literary theory attempted to break the patriarchal norms of literary theory, proving to be a rejuvenating movement within/out literary theory. The paper explores the trajectory of ‘anti-theoretic’ initiation and ‘post-theoretic’ reinventions of feminism during post-theoretic times. The paper argues that the feminist movement has contributed significantly to literary theory’s introspection and subsequent transformations. Supplementing feminist movement, feminist theory effectively buttressed the fight for equality. Lending the elusive objective and scientific tag to women’s worldview, it definitely was an inroad into the male bastion of logic. The paper attempts to trace feminism’s progress within/out the largely male territory of literary theory. It concludes on a note that woman’s voice in literary theory was largely muffled and silenced by patriarchal grand narratives, a damage that feminist criticism sets out to undo.