Can the female reader be theorized? Referential reading and scholarly reading

Abstract

What does the emergence of a female reader, whose interpretation is deemed impertinent, signify in the writings of literature theorists? This article relies on three examples drawn from theoretical discourses on literature: they invoke a figure of the female reader to contemplate a way of reading that deviates from the expected interpretative stance of the 'ideal reader'. It argues that taking into account gendered social relations and an imaginary gendered aspect of reading sheds light on the difference between reading modes that are mobilizing various interpretative frameworks. Finally, it calls for theorizing literary reading from experiences that are inherently unresolvable within the neutrality and disinterestedness ostensibly associated with the mode of reading favoured by educational and literary institutions.