Gender and intellectual history: Turns in (feminist) modernism studies

Rita Felski’s ideas on the gender of modernity and postcritique, which characterised the 1990s and the first two decades of the 21st century, can be seen as a stimulus for the turns in (feminist) modernist studies. In this essay, Rita Felski’s book Gender of Modernity (1995), renowned for its new approach to the modern era and the ideas that were articulated at the time, is interpreted as a work of intellectual history. First, the theoretical and methodological framework of this influential study is analysed, and then the selection of material, or the principle of selection, which Felski applied is briefly commented on. The essay also traces the reactions this book provoked in literary scholarship, and particularly in (feminist) modernist studies. It then considers whether and how postcritique, which focuses on affirmative approaches and readings, can challenge some of the most common assumptions in the well known and established scholarly literature on modernism and contribute to (feminist) modernist studies. The broader framework for this essay is delineated by the following theoretical and methodological questions: why do a relatively small number of women identify with the role of the researcher in the field of intellectual history? Is there something inherently “masculine” about this field? What is intellectual history, and how is it studied? Why do we study intellectual history?