A Study On Spivak's Feminist Criticis

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is one of the most active and critical theorists in contemporary literary and art circles.She always stands at the forefront of The Times,absorbing numerous thoughts and theories and internalizing them in her feminist studies.This paper divides her feminist development into three stages in chronological order and elaborates on Spivak’s feminist thought.In the 1970 s,Spivak focused on the philosophical view of deconstruction and applied the methodology of deconstruction,especially the concept of "strategic essentialism",to feminism,making the female collective political movement possible again.Later,Spevak used deconstruction methodology to criticize French and Anglo-American feminism.She believed that French feminists were not rigorous in their academic attitude when studying women in the third world,and showed "the symptoms of colonialists’ generosity",while Anglo-American feminism was complicit with imperialism.The feminist literary texts they strongly advocate may become a tool for imperialists seeking legitimacy.In the early 1980 s,Spivak contacted the Subclass Research Group of India,and gradually focused on the "women" of the third world.Starting from the research methods of the subplebeian group,Spivak questioned the subplebeian’s historical subject status and the possibility of consciousness restoration,revealed the deep ideological problems ignored by the Western intellectuals represented by Foucault and Deleuze,discussed the impossibility of "political representation",and finally reached the conclusion that "the subplebeian cannot have a voice".In the end,Spivak combined the above theory of the common people and through the Indian traditional custom of "widow martyrdom" revealed that the female subject consciousness in the third world disappeared under the dual oppression of imperialism and patriarchy.After the 1990 s,Spivak began to pay attention to translation,combining translation theory and practice with feminism.She regards translation as an ethical activity and puts forward the two main tasks of translators: to pay attention to the rhetoric of text and to maintain absolute "submission" to text.She is also active in her translation practice,which focuses on the political novels of Bengali writer Mahasvita Devi and reveals the new situation facing women in the era of globalization.