This immasculation “burns away” [sic] "the merely personal, the purely subjective" and therefore creates in woman readers a "confusion of consciousness" (xi) in which they cannot read as themselves.
Now recognized as a classic of feminist literary criticism, The Resisting Reader generated both praise and critique upon publication.
Reviewers were quick to point out that in approach, style, and tone, Fetterley echoed Kate Millett, whose Sexual Politics had preceded The Resisting Reader by almost a decade.
"[1] As a review in the Women's Studies International Quarterly puts it, "Fetterley's questions are so often crucial, her observations repeatedly so acute, that they force us to ask how we avoided them in the past."
"[2] The book also saw its share of anti-feminist response, most of which faulted Fetterley—and by extension, feminism—for an overly narrow and repetitive focus on sexism and gender.
Writing Out of Place: Regionalism, Women and American Literary Culture, written with Marjorie Pryse, appeared in 2003.