Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature

Subjects:

• Literature » English Literature
• Literature » World Literature
• Women's Studies » Women's Studies (General)
• Women's Studies » Women in Literature & the Arts

Awards:

• CHOICE Outstanding Academic Titles, 2005

Reviews:

• [W]hitson succeeds in bringing together a great deal of information from a variety of sources for audiences from high school to undergraduate. Recommended for high school and college libraries.
  —Library Journal January 2005
• Whitson profiles 69 feminist writers--authors who have addressed women's oppression, challenged traditional gender roles, and advocated women's social, political and economic equality in "imaginative" rather than theoretical ways. Many are widely recognized; others such as Katherine Burdekin or Paule Marshall are less familiar but reclaimed by feminist scholars....Author entries include biographical information, a bibliography, internal cross-references, and, in a feature that distinguishes this volume from similar resources, extensive summary interpretations of at least one major work, designed to "entice readership." A selection of 22 informative thematic entries, from "Abolition" and "Amazon" to "Spirituality," "Silence and Voice," and "Woman Question," draw from relevant writers and augment the usefulness of the volume. The book is intended for undergraduate, high school, and general readers. Highly recommended. Public and academic libraries.
  —Choice September 2005
• Meant for high school and undergraduate students as well as the general reader, the one-volume Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature provides basic introductory information on about seventy primarily English and American feminist poets and novelists, plus a few world authors likely to be included in a class on feminist literature.
  —Feminist Collections Winter-Spring 2005
• A good reference book for the public library and a beautiful gift for anyone.
  —Reference Reviews September 2005
• [T]his is a handy introduction to some key feminist writers. Readable and accesible, Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature is a worthwhile purchase for public, high-school, and undergraduate collections.
  —Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin April 1, 2005
• [C]ontains not just the usual biographical sketch and outline of major works, but an interpretative summary of each author along with more general essays on feminist-related topics. Add cross-references and background along with biographical references and you have a reference not just for college-level students, but many a high school reader.
  —MBR Bookwatch March 2005

Table of Contents:

• Abolition; Allende, Isabel; Allison, Dorothy; Androgyny; Amazon; Angelou, Maya; Arnow, Harriette; Atwood, Margaret; Austen, Jane; Austin, Mary; Autobiography; Barnes, Djuna; Behn, Aphra; Blixen, Karen; Bronte, Charlotte; Bronte, Emily; Brown, Rita Mae; Burdekin, Katharine
  
• Castillo, Ana; Chopin, Kate; Cisneros, Sandra; Cofer, Judith Ortiz; Community; Davis, Rebecca Harding; de Pizan, Christine
  
• Dinesen, Isak; Domesticity
  
• Erdrich, Louise
  
• Fauset, Jessie Redmon; Fern, Fanny; Foster, Hannah Webster; Friendship
  
• Gaskell, Elizabeth; Gilman, Charlotte Perkins; Gothic
  
• Hall, Radclyffe; Hooks, Bell; Hulme, Keri; Hurston, Zora Neale; Hysteria
  
• Iron, Ralph
  
• Jacobs, Harriet Ann; Jones, Gayl
  
• Kelley, Edith Summers; Kingston, Maxine Hong
  
• Lim, Shirley; Geok-Lin; Lispector, Clarice; Lorde, Audre
  
• Markham, Beryl; Marriage; Marshall, Paule; McCullers, Carson; Morrison, Toni; Motherhood; Mukherjee, Bharati
  
• Naylor, Gloria; "New Woman"; Nightingale, Florence; Novel
  
• Olsen, Tillie
  
• Petry, Ann; Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart; Piercy, Marge; Pseudonyms
  
• Regionalism; Rich, Adrienne; Rowson, Susanna
  
• Schreiner, Olive; Sedgwick, Catherine Marie; Sentimentalism; Sexuality; Shange, Ntozake; Silence and Voice; Shelley, Mary; Spirituality; Stefan Verena; Stowe, Harriet Beecher; Suffrage
  
• Tan, Amy; True Woman
  
• Walker, Alice; Walker, Margaret; Wittig, Monique; Wharton, Edith; Winterson, Jeanette; Wolf, Christa; Wollstonecraft, Mary; The Woman Question; Woolf, Virginia
  
• Yamamoto, Hisaye; Yezierska, Anzia