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CAROLYN DEVER (ESSAY DATE 1997)

SOURCE: Dever, Carolyn. “Obstructive Behavior: Dykes in the Mainstream of Feminist Theory.” In Cross-Purposes: Lesbians, Feminists, and the Limits of Alliance, edited by Dana Heller, pp. 19–41. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1997.

In the following essay, Dever argues that feminist theory has at least partly been influenced by a set of lesbian responses that have helped shape, divert, and eventually develop mainstream feminist literary theory.

The “obstructive behavior” I hope to analyze in this chapter involves the consideration of “dykes,” by which I mean obstructions that impede or redirect a current or flow.¹ I want to argue that feminist theory has come into being in relation to a set of “dykes,” through contact with critical obstructions that shape, divert, and otherwise help to define the mainstream. The...

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1. Introduction
2. Representative Works
3. Primary Sources
   1. Denise Levertov (Poem Date 1967)
   2. Germaine Greer (Essay Date May 1970)
   3. Jamaica Kincaid (Short Story Date 26 June 1978)
   4. Audre Lorde (Poem Date 1978)
   5. Leslie Marmon Silko (Short Story Date 1981)
   6. Bharati Mukherjee (Short Story Date 1988)
4. Overviews
   1. Elaine Showalter (Essay Date 1973)
   2. Sally Burke (Essay Date 1996)
5. Women Authors Of Color
   1. Elliott Butler–Evans (Essay Date 1989)
   2. Esther Mikyung Ghymn (Essay Date 1995)
6. Feminist Literary Theory
   1. Annette Kolodny (Essay Date 1979)
7. Modern Lesbian Literature
   1. Mary J. Carruthers (Essay Date Summer 1983)
   2. Carolyn Dever (Essay Date 1997)
8. Further Reading
9. Copyright
10. Acknowledgments

1. Feminism