Who is the author of the essay “Three women’s texts and a critique of imperialism” (1985)?

The correct option is Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.

Here is a step-by-step explanation of the authorship and significance of this essay:

1. Identification of the Author:
The essay "Three Women's Texts and a Critique of Imperialism," published in 1985 in the journal Critical Inquiry, was written by the influential postcolonial theorist and scholar Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.

2. Context and Core Argument of the Essay:
In this landmark essay, Spivak examines 19th-century British literature through a postcolonial and feminist lens. She analyzes three specific texts:
- Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847)
- Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea (1866)
- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818)

Spivak argues that mainstream Western feminist literary criticism often ignores the role of imperialism. Specifically, she demonstrates how the self-actualization and individual progress of the white female protagonist (such as Jane Eyre) is historically achieved at the expense of, or through the exclusion and containment of, the colonized "other" (represented by Bertha Mason, the Creole woman from the West Indies).

3. Conclusion:
Because Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is the author who penned this seminal critique, the correct option is Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.