Literary Feminisms (Transitions Series)

It is now almost inconceivable that students of literature can pass through universities without encountering the feminist revolution in literary theory and criticism. Feminist literary theories are pluralist, borrowing from other types of theory, such as marxism or postmodernism, but they always remain woman-centered. Courses in women's writing, literature and gender, and philosophy and literature proliferate—requiring readers to reconsider many of the basic assumptions on which the study of literature was originally founded.

Robbins (English, U. College, Northampton) sets out the fundamentals of feminist theory as it informs literary studies. She discusses a range of theorists from Wollstonecraft to Kristeva, pointing out the intersection of materialist, psychoanalytic, and literary accounts of feminist thought. She also provides exemplary readings of such texts as Wilde's and Gilman's . Because she writes for students, she cites modern paper editions, but notes the original dates in the bibliography. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Ruth Robbins is Lecturer in Literary Studies at the University of Luton.