Deferrals Of Domain

Contemporary female novelists tend to portray the relationship between women and the state as profoundly negative, in contrast to various constructions in current feminist theory. Martine Watson Brownley analyzes novels by Margaret Atwood, Paule Marshall, Nadine Gordimer, and Margaret Drabble to explore the significance of this disparity. The book uses literary analysis to highlight elements of state power that many feminist theorists currently occlude, ranging from women's still minimal access to state politics to the terrifying violence exercised by modern states. At the same time, however, feminist theory clarifies major elements in many contemporary women's lives about which the novels are ambivalent or misleading, such as romantic love and the role of sexuality in state politics. Deferrals of Domain fills a double gap, both authorial and topical, in current critical treatments of women writers and will be of interest to both literary and women's studies scholars.

Brownley (English, Emory U.) has noticed that while women novelists portray the relationship between women and the state as extremely negative, feminist theorists rarely include the issue in their theoretical paradigms, but on the other hand the feminists are apt to discuss romantic love and sexual politics, which the novelists often make only ambiguously allude to. She explores the disparity through interpretations of novels by Nadine Gordimer, Margaret Atwood, Paule Marshall, and Margaret Drabble. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Boston Book Review - Blair

There are many things to admire in this study: Brownley's reading is compendious, and she adroitly condenses reams of material to isolate what is at stake in the critical movements she discusses. She is quick to identify others; sloppy reasoning and theorizing.

Martine Watson Brownley is Goodrich C. White Professor of English at Emory University.