Book Description
This pathbreaking book of feminist criticism is now reissued with a substantial new introduction by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar that reveals the origins of their revolutionary realization in the 1970s that "the personal was the political, the sexual was the textual.
Customer Reviews:
Another gem........2007-01-01
Could this have been titled "The Misreading of 19th Century Female Novelists"? "The Madwoman" is not an easy read: it's an academic effort and a superb effort at that. But the casual bronteelioteyre fan will be lulled into a sense of familiarity -- "yes, I remember reading that" -- only to discover too late that he / she has completely missed the point of all those famous 19th century novels, at least from the perspective of these two clever, insightful, witty women who somehow came together to write perhaps the definitive feminist view of 19th century female novelists. Taking just one example out of hundreds: after reading their discussion of Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey," I re-read the novel and couldn't stop laughing at this parody. Even more entertaining was the fact that so many critics panned "Northanger" when it came out, misreading that it was a parody of the entire genre of the romantic (with a small "r") novel of that era.
an excellent, if outdated, book.......2002-02-25
As a former student of Prof. Gubar, I can attest to the importance of this book within feminist literary circles: Gilbert and Gubar, Inc. created a piece of scholarship that transformed the way students of literature read literature. The book's place among feminist literary criticism today attests to the importance of their mission--were it not for Gilbert and Gubar, someone else, perhaps today, would be performing this kind of work. The fact remains, however, that the proliferation of feminist critique, whether from Robyn Wiegman or Lauren Berlant, makes this text an essential primer for feminist criticism, but not as compelling as the works it tacitly bore.
A Former Student's Opinion.......2001-09-28
As a former student of Susan Gubar, I would have to recommend this book to anyone interested in a deeper understading of the novels covered and also finding a different perspective to the traditional critical approaches. As a groundbreaking work, this collection critically looks at and analyzes many different aspects approaching the anxiety of female authorship. This work is truly interesting, and to all of the naysayers, I can vouch that the authors are have a very compelling and informed perspective. The second edition proves that it is a work that will be around for a very long time and that the work will not fall into obscurity, for it is a inspired work of literary criticism. I would recommend this to anyone who seeks a deeper look into the popular women novelists.
This is just icky.......2001-05-25
I apply a very simple standard to literary criticism: Read the critique then reread the original. If the critique improves my appreciation and understanding of the original, then I have spent my time wisely. This book fails that test.
Gilbert & Gubar seem to have little appreciation for the artistry of literary criticism. They seem incapable of writing concise, insightful sentences. They seem to have little appreciation for the rhythms and patterns of English; their sentences read approximately the same way a lopsided trash-can rolls down a hill. There's a lot of noise but not much is actually accomplished. This book cries out for a patient and caring First Year english instructor with a red pen.
Individual chapters seem to have promise, quickly drained by the authors inability to focus, summarise, analyse and bring their subject to life. Their analysis of the Bronte's had the astonishing effect of reducing my interest in these enthralling authors and their works. The Authors insight into the nineteenth century gothic is at best weak. They make much of minor issues and ignore broader themes linking their chosen authors and works.
At its best, reading literary criticism is an electrifying experience, one that inspires you to reach for the nearest great book and savor it as you would fine wine and great food. In the case of the Madwoman in the Attic, it inspires you to regard the library with weariness and a heavy heart. Simply stated, this is book is as tired as Kathy Lee's latest CD and equally awash in mawkish sentiment. I recommend any book by another, better critics - Harold Bloom, Camille Paglia, Cleanth Brooks, T. S. Eliot.
Gibraltor.......2000-12-20
This is a great re-structuring view of Women artists in the Victorian era. Once you've read this, everything looks different and it makes you want to re-visit novels like Jane Eyre and Middlemarch and Sense and Sensibility just to see how much they have changed. Madwomen is a work of creativity as much as criticism. It changes you. Once you have read this, you find yourself in a whole different ocean.
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Victorian Women Writers and the Woman Question (Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture)
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Literary Theory | History & Criticism | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0521641020 |
Book Description
This collection of essays focuses attention on a number of Victorian women writers popular in their own time but forgotten or neglected by literary history, from Margaret Oliphant and Charlotte Yonge to Mary Ward, Marie Corelli, "Ouida" and E. Nesbit. Particular emphasis is given to writings concerned with "the woman question." Discussions of marriage, matriarchy and divorce, satire, suffragette writing, writing for children, and links between literature and art illuminate the complex cultural and literary roles, and the engaging contributions, of Victorian women writers.
Book Description
This sourcebook provides the first interdisciplinary guide to the founding text of modern feminism, Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. In addition to closely annotated key passages of the landmark treatise, this sourcebook also contains letters by Wollstonecraft and her most influential contemporaries, nineteenth-century responses on specific aspects of the text, including slavery, sexuality, religion and sensibility, a contextual chronology, an annotated reading list and substantial introductory materials. This essential guide not only contributes to the understanding of Wollstonecraft's role in the development of the women's movement, but also allows readers to gain a deeper understanding of British literature and politics at the turn of the nineteenth-century, of Romanticism and of the origins of feminism.
Customer Reviews:
First Feminist.......2006-12-16
This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities. Wollstonecraft is not easy to read however, she makes a compelling argument. Mary Wollstonecraft viewed the institution of marriage simply as legal prostitution. She believed this to be the case for several reasons. First, the marriage laws in Britain at the time gave men legal rights over their wives including their property. The law also gave men custody of their children in event of divorce, and a woman could not even obtain a divorce without their husband's consent. For women divorce meant having to leave everything of importance in their lives behind. Thus, Wollstonecraft observed that Britain's laws left women in the unenviable position of being treated as mere chattel by their husbands. Second, Wollstonecraft argued that women's downtrodden position in society was not the cause of religious or moral teachings. She was emphatic in her assessment that it was women's denial of the same educational opportunities that men received that made them seem weak and inferior to men. Finally, she believed marriage only chained women to a life of drudgery in the home.
Armed with this information, Wollstonecraft set out to propose in her book A Vindication of the Rights of Women the idea, that equal education for women was the only remedy for this grave injustice perpetrated against them, and education for women would actually strengthen the institution of marriage. She made several prescient arguments to support this idea. First, Wollstonecraft believed schoolchildren needed the contact and interaction with other schoolchildren to develop properly. So, she argued against Britain's system of elitist education, especially its private schools and boarding schools. She advocated for the creation of national public schools, funded by the state, and attended by children from the entire socio-economic strata. Second, she thought it was imperative that both boys and girls must be educated together. The reason Wollstonecraft believed in coeducation, was that when both boys and girls get to know one another from an early age they would in turn, build friendships, and learn to respect one another. Therefore, when women get married, they will be able to serve as companions to their husbands and not just as trophy wives or sexual objects. "Nay, marriage will never be held sacred till women, by being brought up with men, are prepared to be their companions rather than their mistresses." Third, Wollstonecraft asked the question, how society could expect mothers to rear healthy boys capable of functioning as confident and productive men in society if their mothers, who raised them, were uneducated. She was horrified to think of the damage already done to children by uneducated, weak-minded mothers. Wollstonecraft articulates in beautiful fashion her argument for the need to educate women in the following quote. "If marriage be the cement of society, mankind should all be educated after the same model, or the intercourse of the sexes will never deserve the name of fellowship, nor will women ever fulfill the peculiar duties of their sex." This argument only enhances women's roles as wives and mothers. Finally, Wollstonecraft argued that the implementation of her educational reforms would prove to be a key element leading to the improvement of the institution of marriage in particular, and for family life in general. "Contending for the rights of women, my main argument is built on this simple principle, that if she be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue."
Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, philosophy, and feminism.
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Joanna Southcott: The Woman Clothed with the Sun
Frances Brown
Manufacturer: Lutterworth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
New Age | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0718830180 |
Book Description
This new biography of the Devon-born visionary and prophetess uses previously unidentified sources to give the definitive account of her life, her writings and her influence.
Average customer rating:
- Powerful story-telling combined with a vivid warning
- Pay no attention to the reviewer behind the insults....
- A Great Story About the History of Mankind
- A Quality Cross-Eras Historical Full Of Imagination
- Not impressed
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Isle of Woman (Geodyssey)
Piers Anthony
Manufacturer: Tor Fantasy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0812533666 |
Book Description
A magnificent saga of passion, heroism, and survival, Piers Anthony's Isle of Woman is a tale like no other ever written. It is nothing less than the story of humanity itself, from its savage origins to its troubled future, told through the lives on one family reborn throughout history.At once grand in scope and intimate in human detail, Isle of Woman tells the story of a man and a woman born at the dawn of human history, separated by fate, yet united by an unquenchable passion that even time could not conquer: Blaze, the fireworker who raised his kind out of savagery, and Ember, the beautiful green-eyed woman who forever haunted his dreams.Isle of Woman is a powerful and prophetic masterwork from one of the bestselling storytellers of our time.
Customer Reviews:
Powerful story-telling combined with a vivid warning.......2007-01-12
In the beginning of human pre-history, mankind learned to throw stones use fire, and create vivid pictures with words. Doing so gave him an advantage over other animals, allowed him to spread out of Africa and into the rest of the world. In those earliest beginnings, mankind shared the world with other hominids. Over time, he had only to share it with other humans, but even that proved sometimes difficult.
Author Piers Anthony envisions a connected lifetime. Two people, Ember and Blaze, are in love back in the beginning of time, but they can never marry as they come from the same tribe. Blaze must leave the tribe and strike out on his own, as all men do. Repeating their lives over and over, in locations around the world as humanity spreads, they see, and take part in both the epic and tiny changes that create history--control of fire, contact with the neandertols, reaching Australia, creation of early civilization in the Tigris/Euphrates basin, Rome, China, the Mongol Empire all play their part and in every case the continuing characters are there. Anthony advances the ages of the characters slightly with each shift (some of which encompass thousands or even millions of years), but allows them a continuous history.
It's a strange approach to story-telling--Ember and Blaze each have families, grow older, yet keep their fascination with fire and with the cultural advances of the times. The characters keep the same names and (evolving) backstory, yet this isn't an immortal, living through time--it's a lifetime played again and again against a different backdrop--but with that backdrop adding consequence to the decisions they make.
Anthony ends his story with a bit of a twist, shifting not to the present, but to a near-future where the consequences of many of the decisions that mankind has made play themselves out. The ending is bittersweet, and Anthony adds a hard-hitting author note for anyone who missed the point.
I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this story and I suspect that few authors have the skill to pull something like this off, or the clout with publishers to persuade them to take a chance on such a radically different form of story. Piers Anthony, however, manages to involve the reader in both the struggles his families must undertake and the playout of history and anthropology as mankind literally conquers and vanquishes the earth. The decade and a half since ISLE OF WOMAN was published bear out some of the most frightening of Anthony's concerns. Still, the fact that authors like Anthony can take a stand like this and write so persuasively is cause for some hope for the earth. I certainly recommend ISLE OF WOMAN to anyone who is uncertain about the tradeoff between 'jobs' and the environment.
Pay no attention to the reviewer behind the insults...........2006-02-01
The person who wrote the editorial review obviously is one of those people who underestimated Anthony and let it color his/her opinion of the book.
No, not everyone will understand what Anthony is trying to do. It is a very intelligent book, with a concept for plot structure that is entirely different from what most readers are accustomed to seeing. That doesn't mean it's a bad book. Just because the book has a message beyond "don't worry, be happy" doesn't make it a hokey book. Now, it IS the first book in the series, so cut the man some slack if he doesn't completely realize his concept. What mistakes he does make, he makes up for in the next book. I intend to read them all.
A Great Story About the History of Mankind.......2005-10-20
This book won't appeal to everyone, but it is a fantastic read for anyone interested in the evolution of mankind. It gives amazing insight into how man lived in each time period through characters that seem to transcend time. Truly unique and fun to read!
A Quality Cross-Eras Historical Full Of Imagination.......2005-01-10
One of Piers Anthony's most ambitious novels, "Isle Of Woman" - the first in a series - tells the story of the human race throughout history from its evolutionary emegence to the near future, via a small number of characters re-incarnated throughout history and interacting with each other each time. Occuring in Africa, in North America, the Middle East, France - pretty much over most of the planet - through the Ice Age, the Chinese Dynasties, the Stone Age and numerous other specific times and places, ascending from the most distant to the most recent and finally into the year 2021. It does a remarkable job of putting one right in the moment, making distant, mammoth-and-sabretooth-inhabited wildernesses and long-ago exotic cultures very real and immersive. The barbarities of the human race over the edges are present, but more memorable are the benevolences - a meeting between early modern man and Neanderthals where the Homo Sapiens representative is surprised to learn that the 'beast-men' are not the bloodthirsty mindless savages the sapiens think of them as; a simple but highly moving burial scene; and the instances of powerful romance - particularly romances that last through the centuries and transcend lifetimes - are among the highlights. Generally written in great detail, the narrative does occasionally fall into choppy sentence structure - which can be effective in some action sequences to convey the rapidity of events but is much less so at other times - and excessive use of exclamation points, but any hampering effects these slips might have had on the overall story are dashed by the power, fascination, and/or beauty of the individual scene and a generally quick return to a more descriptive and effective writing style. Overall, a book of great insight, imagination, supposition and substance.
Not impressed.......2004-11-29
While the concept is intriguing and the plot is interesting, when's the last time you read a novel where the author began a sentence with, "These ones..."? Unfortunately, I found the quality of the writing far below par. It had the "feel" of having been written by a high school student.
I can't recall having read any other books by Anthony. I'll probably try something else by him (not from this series), but, if "Isle of Women" is any indication, I don't have high hopes of becoming a loyal fan.
Book Description
' ... it is impossible / That any clerk wol speke good of wyves.' Behind the words of Chaucer's Wife of Bath lies a vast corpus of medieval misogynistic writings. These texts, which range from those of the Church Fathers to a rich array of vernacular literature, have had a profound influence on the status of women in the west. Yet, despite the recent surge of investigations into women's situation, no one book has sought to collect together the key voices of medieval antifeminism, let alone to present the voices sometimes raised, even at that epoch, in defence of women. The urgent need for a single and substantial sourcebook of these materials in modern translation is met for the first time in this volume, which includes an introduction, notes, and commentary. The accessibility of the better-known texts here (from Jerome to Walter Map; from Heloise and Abelard to Christine de Pizan and Chaucer) will be welcomed by those engaged in medieval and women's studies; the lesser-known writings concerning for instance the sexual 'double standard', and women and the priesthood, will provide unexpected discoveries for specialists and beginners alike. Indeed, a surprising range of early texts championing women - including material never previously available in translation - is here represented. All those concerned with women's studies and with medieval and later culture (European as well as English) will find Woman Defamed and Woman Defended fascinating to read as well as a useful resource.
Customer Reviews:
A bookshelf standard for students.......2006-03-31
This is an excellent book about the literary tradition of misogyny (hatred of women) in Europe. I first encountered this book in a Chaucer course, and it opened up a whole new vision of interpretation of classical and medieval materials and further forward through literary history. This book is a definite must for anyone studying history, literature, or for that matter, life in general, as it brings forth some of the origins of misogynist ideology.
A Highly Useful Collection.......2005-01-05
Woman Defamed and Woman Defended is a highly useful book for anyone interested in the medieval querelle des femmes or in women's history. It gathers together the major Late Classical and Medieval writers who addressed the issue of women's place in the world, allowing one to read the relevant excerpts without having to hunt through all of those writers' works (which can be a very daunting task in the case of someone like Ovid or Augustine). As the title suggests, the book highlights not only women's detractors, but also their defenders (including proto-feminists such as Christine de Pizan) to counter some of the nastier misogynistic passages. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of gender in the West, especially those who confine the main part of their work to the 19th and 20th centuries. The Western so-called "war of the sexes" has its ultimate roots in this material, despite the way that (in my experience) it is often ignored or glossed over in classes that deal directly with gender.
Book Description
Isle of Fantasies is a necessity for anyone in a romantic relationship or anyone who desires a deep and meaningful relationship.
The workbook style of Isle of Fantasies takes you through the many steps of a love relationship and easily moves you into a deeper more profound state of love.
Find out how to eliminate the barriers keeping you from having the love you've longed for.
Communicate more effectively, get your needs met and start believing in love again.
Customer Reviews:
A wealth of useful information in this book.......2003-10-07
Isle of Fantasies is a unique resource for self-discovery and enlightenment in your romantic life. You are provided with useful strategies to uncover the obstacles in your path and simple insightful ways to overcome them. Buy this book!
Know oneself.......2003-09-29
A comprehensive tool for those who are seeking to improve existing relationships or to understand their past so that they may leave behind their emotional baggage. The authors creatively provide the means to understand how your behavior and communication may be unknowningly eliciting undesireable reactions in your partner. An easy read, it is a good addition to any self-help library.
A Ton of Great Material! An Unknown Gem!.......2000-01-28
Here's a truly complete guide for clearly defining what you want and what you deserve in a romantic relationship. Unlike many self-help relationship books, this one is packed with clever quizzes, diagrams, cartoons, and affirmations. I highly recommend it to both women and men (singles and couples) who seek a higher quality love connection in life.
Book Description
Margaret Cavendish's life as a writer and noblewoman unfolded against the backdrop of the English Civil War and Restoration. Pursuing the only career open to women of her class, she became a lady-in-waiting to the Queen Henrietta Maria. Exiled to Paris with the Queen, she met and married William Cavendish, Marquis of Newcastle. In exile, Margaret did something unthinkable for a seventeenth-century Englishwoman: she lived proudly as a writer. Eventually she published twenty-three volumes, starting with Poems and Fancies, the first book of English poetry published by a woman under her own name. But later generations too easily accepted the disparaging opinions of her shocked critics, and labeled her "Mad Madge of Newcastle."
Mad Madge is both a lively biography of a fascinating woman and a window on a tumultuous cultural time.
Customer Reviews:
Mad is an understatement.......2005-10-30
Having just finished reading the epilogue at the end of `Mad Madge' I must confess that Katie Whitaker's intentions were entirely lost upon me for I agree wholeheartedly with Samuel Pepys who is credited as describing Margaret Cavendish as "a mad, conceited, ridiculous woman". I believe that Whitaker's purpose was to portray Margaret as being a woman to be admired and so forth as her hordes of flatterers in the seventeenth century had for reasons that I still do not understand. Of all the women in history to research so avidly and thoroughly as Whitaker obviously researched Margaret, I have no idea why she would choose to write a biography about a woman who considered herself inferior to not only her husband and male relatives (both blood-related and related by marriage) but all men with the exclusion of those she loathed for political reasons. Margaret not only supposedly thought of herself as not as consequential as those men she held in high esteem but she was basically a naive child given a woman's place in the world. She was described as being generous many times over, kind even, yet when in exile her husband, servants and she all lived in splendour receiving numerous loans that varied in amounts from 300 pounds into the thousands. All of this money was of course used to supply her with the finest clothing, silks and rugs to decorate her bedchamber in, and grand coaches in which to travel everywhere she went whenever she deemed it necessary to leave her home. Not once did I read of her giving to anyone who was left penniless even a breadcrumb. For someone who was said to be so outstanding she held her tongue an awful lot. If she was someone so great then why did she never protest, why remain silent and only create fictional works about the realities of the political situation if she cared so much about what was going on? If she were so generous why not give to those who were much less fortunate than her? I speak, of course, of those who were not lucky enough to live in a home of grandeur and receive fantastic entertainments. The evidence suggests that Margaret Cavendish was truly a very good little actress. After making her success by producing several supposedly original works of fiction and otherwise she began to throw more lavish get-togethers with various personages of the seventeenth century such as philosophers and poets whom if she were to be seen in the company of would greatly improve her own social status, even in exile. She claimed to be obsessed with originality, yet she was not original in the slightest. She followed the ideas that were popular during the times. She herself admits numerous times to only gaining knowledge of the topics on which she wrote by listening to the conversation between her husband and his visitors, who she later used to her advantage. All she had to do to leave her mark on the world, which she too was obsessed with, was take her husband's opinions, put them into her own words and publish the work. Fairly simple, not to mention manipulative. All she cared about, and she made this abundantly clear too many times to begin to count, was being known. She wanted to be a celebrity and she used her husband to become one. She was nothing but a scheming, hypocritical, self-important, and untalented fraud. To quote from the epilogue `Louisa Costello's Memoirs of Eminent Englishwomen charged Margaret with self-sufficiency, presumption, and arrogance. She was "a kind of overgrown, spoilt girl," added Eric Robertson.' I could not agree more.
The only reason I read this book was because it was recommended to me in a magazine called Victoria. I had not read any book reviews written on it so I had no way of knowing that that review was extremely biased. I realise now that the only reason this book was reviewed and suggested to the readers of the magazine was because of Whitaker's writing and the fact that it was written about a supposed "heroic feminine" who lived and wrote poetry and such in seventeenth century Europe. I do not disagree that this book was written and researched very well. In fact, I found the wording to be very inspiring. However, the subject on which the book was written, Margaret Cavendish's life, of course, was not extraordinary and therefore very dull. The only time I ever found myself growing passionate during the course of reading this biography was at the end when, finally arriving at the conclusion, I was able to begin to gather my thoughts in preparation to write this very book review. Needless to say, I feel as if I wasted my time. I do not wish for anyone else to make the same mistake that I did. I highly recommend that you do not read this book for any reason. I would not even recommend this book to an enemy or friend as a practical joke. No one should be submitted to the foolishness and lack of intellect that Margaret embodied. She fancied herself as a witty, unique person. I assure you that she proved multiple times that that was all a facade to conceal the fact that she was merely looking to make her mark on the world in anyway possible. I pity those that were forced to flatter her so excessively simply because her social status called for it. I doubt that any of them truly believed a word they offered her, but if any did they were as simple-minded and mad as Margaret.
Book Description
The story of the fight to gain the vote for women is about much more than a picturesque skirmish around the introduction of universal suffrage. It is an explosive story of social and sexual revolutionary upheaval, and one which has not yet ended. The movement for women's suffrage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries prefigured to a startling extent the controversies which rage today around the role of women. Far from the stereotype of a uniform body of women chaining themselves to railings, the early feminist movement was riven by virulent arguments over women's role in society, the balance to be struck between self-fulfilment and their duties to family and children, and their relationship with men.
Book Description
In 1935, while Virginia Woolf was alive and building her career as a woman writer, Ruth Gruber published a seminal essay on the novelist that is now seen as the first feminist interpretation of Woolf’s writings and life. Seventy years after its original publication, Gruber’s seminal critique is available once again, with new material that makes it more relevant for readers today. Virginia Woolf: The Will to Create as a Woman includes several previously unpublished letters exchanged between Woolf and Gruber, and a new introduction in which Gruber recalls her 1933 meeting with the English writer, examining the questions surrounding Woolf’s bi-polar illness and anti-Semitism.
In this groundbreaking assessment of Woolf’s philosophy, influences, and style, Gruber laid the groundwork for a generation of future feminist analyses. She cogently examines Woolf’s concept of gender and her literary influences, adeptly discussing how Woolf constructed a feminine writing style in a realm dominated by men. Above all, she shows how Woolf consciously strove to create as a woman.
Virginia Woolf’s experimental prose and her struggles with mental illness have made her an enduringly provocative figure, and today, more than sixty years after her suicide, Woolf’s writing continues to fascinate and inspire readers.
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- The Memory Keeper's Daughter
- The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to Islam (and the Crusades) (Politically Incorrect Guides)
- The Red Dancer: The Life and Times of Mata Hari
- The Red Hand of Doom (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying Adventure)
- The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of The Lord of the Rings
- The Rise of the Black Wolf (Grey Griffins, Book 2)
- The Ruby Ring: A Novel
- The Safe-Keeper's Secret (Firebird)
- The Secretary of Dreams
- The Shadow of the Sun
Books Index
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