Women and the Canon. Are We Justified to Speak of a Female Literary Canon Nowadays?

Abstract

The paper is initiated by a brief outline of the development of women’s literature in the ex-“East European” countries since 1989. Then it turns to feminist literary theory tracking two different periods of its reception by, and adaption to, literary criticism in post-communist academic research. The concepts of women’s generations and women’s literary canon, vital for the western tradition of gynocriticism, are closely analyzed in line with their relevance to present-day women’s literature in post-communist culture. The paper ends with a presentation of a threefold model of the prospective to speak of women’s literature imbedded in, or in counter stance to, the traditional literary canon.