Transilvania University of Brașov Faculty of Letters MA Study Programme Anglo – American literature by woman MA student: Șerban Agurița Dorinela 1 st year – R.F. 2012 – 2013

Feminism is political label indicating support for the aims of the new woman’s movement which emerged in the late 1960s. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. A feminist is an advocate or supporter of the rights and equality of women. Feminist theory, which emerged from these feminist movements, aims to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining women's social roles and lived experience; it has developed theories in a variety of disciplines in order to respond to issues such as the social construction of sex and gender. Some of the earlier forms of feminism have been criticized for taking into account only white, middle-class, educated perspectives. This led to the creation of ethnically specific or multiculturalism forms of feminism. The feminist movement produced both feminist fiction and non-fiction, and created new interest in women's writing. Nights at the Circus is a novel by Angela Carter, first published in 1984 and that year's winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. The novel focuses on the life and exploits of Sophie Fevvers, a woman who is – or so she would have people believe – a Cockney virgin, hatched from an egg laid by unknown parents and ready to develop fully fledged wings. At the time of the story, she has become a celebrated aerialist, and she captivates the young journalist Jack Walser, who runs away with the circus and falls into a world that his journalistic