In Toni Bower’s work, “The Achievement of Scholarly Authority for Women: Trends in the Interpretation of Eighteenth-Century Fiction,” she describes literary trends through the 1970s through 90s and what brought about these changes of women’s literature into scholarly circles.
In the 1970s, feminists played a key role in bringing light to lost works by women writers. There was an interest in works written by women and about women. These feminists made it their mission to bring the forgotten works by women writers of the Eighteenth-Century to the general population. On top of this, the women’s movement created gender-oriented analysis of literature and behavior (Bowers 52-53). This movement was a major trend for the unearthing of Eighteenth-Century works by women.
The 1980s offered the trend of theory to literature. This was mainly concerned with post-structuralism theories of language and meaning. The gender movements at the time gave a strong foundation to the feminist interpretations of literature. There was also a closer examination of the novel and where it came from and what defined it. The debate spotlighted women writers as playing a lead role in the origin of the novel (Bowers 53-54).
The 1990s ushered in the era of women as literary critics. It was determined that many critics of the Eighteenth-Century were women, and there was a greater understanding of women scholars. There was also a link formed between women and economics and women’s roles in business and consumerism (Bowers 55-56). The trends in the 1970s-90s shaped our literary landscape.