1. Willa Cather.n2. Frida Kahlo.n3. Djuna Barnes.n4. Anne Thackeray Ritchie.n5. Isak Dinesen.n6. Christina Rossetti.n7. Helen Bannerman.n8. Alma Mahler.n9. Diane Arbus.n10. Lee Miller.n11. Virginia Woolf.n12. Colette.n13. Jean Rhys.n14. Margaret Drabble.n15. Emily Eden.n16. Miles Franklin.n17. Cynthia Ozick.n18. Joyce Carol Oates.n19. Simone de Beauvoir.
Writing of Women: Essays in a Renaissance is a collection of critical and biographical essays by Phyllis Rose that celebrates the revaluation of women writers in literary history. The work is a product of the feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s, which Rose argues changed how scholars distinguish between ‘major’ and ‘minor’ literary figures. The volume is organized into two primary sections: ‘Lives,’ focusing on biographical studies, and ‘Works,’ focusing on literary analysis.
In the ‘Lives’ section, Rose examines the biographies of diverse figures such as painter Frida Kahlo, photographer Diane Arbus, and poet Christina Rossetti, while exploring the complex relationship between fact and fiction in narrating a life. This section concludes with a theoretical essay titled ‘Fact and Fiction in Biography,’ which discusses a mimetic shift in modern biography toward the psychological depth and formal innovation typically found in novels.
The ‘Works’ section provides analysis of prominent authors including Virginia Woolf, Colette, and Jean Rhys, often placing their specific books within the broader context of their creative careers. This portion of the book features a significant essay on Willa Cather, attempting to reposition her as a modernist rather than a traditionalist, and a concluding piece that addresses the tensions between women writers and feminist critics.
Throughout the collection, Rose advocates for ‘canon formation,’ viewing her reviews as an assault on older ways of seeing literary history to ensure that Parnassus is shared more equally between men and women. Ultimately, the book serves as a record of a ‘renaissance’ in writing by and about women, highlighting how personal mythology and cultural circumstance shape the ‘Whatness’ of creative existence.
Details
| ISBN: 9780819551313 |
| Subtitle: Essays In A Renaissance |
| Genre: Literary Criticism; Literary History |
| Subject(s): Literature; Literature Women Authors History And Criticism Addresses, Essays, Lectures; Literature/ Women Authors/ History And Criticism; Women and literature; Women Authors Biography Addresses, Essays, Lectures |
| Publication Date: 1985-04-01 |
| Original Publication Date: |
| Publisher: Wesleyan University Press |
| Language: English |
| Format: Hardcover |
| Pages: 160 |
| Rating: |
| Notes: |
| Book_ID: 105320 |