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Since the 1970s, the personal voice has been brought to bear more and more often on literary criticism, leading Nancy Miller to describe the 1990s as a time of "confessional culture" that manifested itself in academia with "personal criticism and other autobiographical acts" (But Enough xiv, 1-2).1 Though we have now entered a new century, the trend does not appear to be waning, yet autobiographical criticism is still often greeted with hesitation. While many scholars using personal writing in their criticism claim with Ruth Behar that such work is well-suited to addressing "serious social issues" (B2), critics point out that the personal voice does not actually effect change. Daphne Patai, for example, announces that "personal disclosures" and "self-reflexivity [do] not change reality. [Such approaches do] not redistribute income, gain political rights for the powerless, create housing for the homeless, or improve health" (A52). Despite the clear lack of direct political intervention wrought by personal criticism, however, I am not willing to dismiss it as completely irrelevant to questions of social justice. Alice Walker's In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens (1983) is one text that shows how self-conscious autobiography can be a useful tool to wield in a politically-motivated critical practice. Three of Walker's essays in particular-"Beyond the Peacock," "Looking for Zora," and "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens"-demonstrate how personal criticism can use performative elements to increase its effectiveness. Walker's particular style of performance involves the use of story narratives that emphasize the highly constructed and textually mediated qualities of her self-representation. Readers are thus encouraged to interpret Walker's writing on multiple levels-not only as personal testimony but also as literary criticism and allegory-effectively bringing the personal voice into criticism without falling into traps of essentialism. As it renegotiates readings of the past, then, In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens demonstrates the way literary criticism can use performative autobiography to influence cultural practices and potentially change material lives.
THE DEBATE OVER PERSONAL CRITICISM
i. The pros
Although the reasons why critics choose to write autobiographically vary enormously, three factors are central to the use of personal criticism in Alice Walker and other writers who are committed to literary criticism as a vehicle for social change. First, autobiography allows scholars writing from traditionally marginalized positions to...