Women's Literature

The searing, must-read feminist essay from the author of A Girl is a Half-formed Thing<BR><BR>'Fearless ... A fierce and fascinating manifesto in McBride's persuasive prose' Sinéad Gleeson<BR><BR>'Formidable' Vogue<BR><BR>In this galvanizing essay, Eimear McBride unpicks the contradictory forces of disgust and objectification that control and shame women. From playground taunts of 'only sluts do it' but 'virgins are frigid', to ladette culture, and the arrival of 'ironic' porn, via Debbie Harry, the Kardashians and the Catholic church - she looks at how this prejudicial messaging has played out in the past, and still surrounds us today. <BR><BR>McBride asks - are women still damned if we do, damned if we don't? How can we give our daughters (and sons) the unbounded futures we want for them? And, in this moment of global crisis, might our gift for juggling contradiction help us to find a way forward?<BR><BR>'A satisfying feminist polemic' Susie Orbach<BR><BR>'Remarkable' Scotsman<BR><BR>'Eimear McBride is that old fashioned thing, a genius' Guardian

In this sharp and darkly funny new essay collection from the New York Times bestselling author, Cazzie David explores the irony and existential crises of leaving youth behind.<BR><BR>With her thirtieth birthday fast approaching, Cazzie reflects on the delusions that laid waste to her twenties and reckons with their consequences now that the specter of a new decade is looming. Touching on everything from the pressure to find the "right" partner, dealing with the relentless grip of social media, and navigating body dysmorphic spirals, Delusions cuts through the noise, offering personal anecdotes, sharp cultural criticism, and witty, honest contemplations on the chaos of contemporary adulthood. Cazzie brings her trademark voice-blunt, self-aware, and blisteringly funny-to essays that are as vulnerable as they are biting.<BR><BR>An attempt to mature in the span of one year

Medieval Holy Women and the Desire for Death investigates the tension between death as necessary for bringing about union with God and as the end of life on earth.For medieval Christians, only death could offer complete union with God. For medieval women in particular, death was figured as a desirable end to their embodied lives; at least, this is the story told by the clergymen who typically wrote their biographies. Medieval Holy Women and the Desire for Death questions this assumption and studies visionary narratives, treatises, and spiritual reflections by and about medieval Christian women from the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries to reveal how these women understood their own deaths and how their depictions conformed to or departed from the stories told about them.Rather than focusing on externalities like rituals, revenants, or miracles, Jessica Barr instead tackles the desire for death from the inside, seeking to elucidate the ways in which medieval people anticipated or experienced biological death on a personal level. In narrating their spiritual lives within the framework of deeply held Christian beliefs, these medieval women mystics illustrate how theology and experience converge-and, not infrequently, diverge.

A quietly powerful exploration of memory and forgetting, from one of France's leading feminist public intellectuals"A labyrinth of looping, interlocked narratives which spiral out beyond the Annex as the night progresses. . . . The penultimate pages of this elegiac book are a sword-thrust to the heart."-Laurel Berger, Irish Times<BR> <BR>In 2021, the award¿winning French writer Lola Lafon was granted permission to stay overnight-alone for ten hours-in the Annex in Amsterdam where Anne Frank and her family had hidden from the Nazis between 1942 and 1944. Lafon's visit to this space, where Anne Frank wrote her famous diary, evoked the confinement and constant danger suffered by the Franks, and the family's ghostly presence as well. "The night was inhabited, lit by reflections," Lafon writes. "Some urgency still dwelled at the heart of the Annex, crouched there, ready to be discovered."<BR> <BR>Exploring the many stories told about Anne Frank, Lafon tries to find the precocious girl at the heart of the venerated and exploited myth, a disciplined writer whose famous diary is in fact a wonderfully constructed literary work. Throughout, Lafon reflects on what it means to lose loved ones, both Lafon's own family in the Holocaust and her childhood friend to the Khmer Rouge. A prizewinner and bestseller in France, this book asks us to consider the stories we tell ourselves about tragedy, how we grapple with loss, and why, in the face of danger and confinement, women write.

Narratives of Working Women in Early Modern London: Gendering the City analyzes depictions of non-elite, working women in relation to specific London neighborhoods and sites in early modern drama and culture from primarily the late sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century. The women laborers explored in this book, who worked on the fringes of masculinized commerce, elicited anxious discursive responses to their ubiquitous public presence. This book investigates these discursive strategies, or gendered place narratives, in dramatic works such as Ben Jonson's Epicene, the unattributed play, The Fair Maid of the Exchange, Thomas Heywood's The Wise-woman of Hogsdon, and Shackerly Marmion's Holland's Leaguer, as well as a variety of early modern pamphlets, poems, ballads, and prose works. By rhetorically associating working women with contested urban commercial neighborhoods and locales, these works attempt to minimize, control, or delegitimize the agency of laboring women. An examination of these narratives exposes underlying social and economic inequities in early modern London, which affected the conditions of women's labor.

'Margaret Fuller hatte mehr Einfluss auf das Denken in Amerika als irgendeine andere Frau zuvor.' (Susan B. Anthony)Keine andere Frau hat sich in der männerdominierten Welt der Vereinigten Staaten im 19. Jahrhundert so durchgesetzt, einen so bleibenden Namen gemacht und so nachhaltige Spuren hinterlassen wie Margaret Fuller. Mit Schriften wie 'Woman in the Nineteenth Century' (1845) leistete sie einen grundlegenden Beitrag zur Frauenrechtsbewegung in Amerika, im Dialog unter anderem mit Goethe und Bettina von Arnim. Auf die zeitgenössische amerikanische Literaturkritik hatte sie neben Edgar Allan Poe den größten Einfluss; als Übersetzerin vermittelte sie Schriften der deutschen Romantik und Eckermanns 'Gespräche mit Goethe' ins Englische. Als erste weibliche Mitarbeiterin der vielgelesenen 'New-York Daily Tribune' wurde sie bekannt für ihre kritischen Sozialreportagen; als Auslandskorrespondentin in Rom war sie Zeugin und Teilnehmerin der Revolution von 1848/49 - all das in einer öffentlichen Wirkungszeit von nur fünfzehn Jahren.Diese Sammlung gibt einen umfassenden Einblick in Fullers Werk. Erstmals ins Deutsche übersetzte Briefe, Tagebuchnotizen, literaturkritische Schriften, Zeitungsbeiträge und Auszüge aus ihren großen Essays repräsentieren eine Zeitspanne von einer ihrer ersten Veröffentlichungen bis zur letzten, von der deutschen Romantik bis zur europäischen Revolution.

Ein herzerwärmender, lustiger, und gleichzeitig ernster Roman über eine junge Frau, die sich der harten Realität des selbstständigen Lebens stellen muss Margo braucht Geld. Seit sie ungewollt von ihrem Collegeprofessor, der sie jetzt mit dem Kind alleinlässt, schwanger wurde, mehr denn je. Wie Margo es auch dreht und wendet, kein Job scheint passend zu sein, oder könnte auch nur ansatzweise ihr Leben mit einem Baby finanzieren. Durch einen Zufall wird sie auf die Plattform OnlyFans aufmerksam, und Margo ist fasziniert von dieser Welt, in der Frauen mit sich und ihrem Körper experimentieren, und offenbar gut dabei verdienen. Also beginnt auch sie, Inhalte zu produzieren. Dabei erhält sie Unterstützung von ihrer Mitbewohnerin Suzie, einem großen Cosplay-Fan, und auch von ihrem Vater Jinx, einem Ex-Wrestlingprofi. Ehe sie sich versieht, ist Margo ein Online-Phänomen. Könnte dies die Antwort auf all ihre Probleme sein, oder hat der Internet-Ruhm einen zu hohen Preis?

“Muir’s well-informed, entertaining book surveys romantic love and marriage among the real-life counterparts of Austen’s characters in an England threatened with invasion and agitated by calls for political reform.”—Jenny McAuley, Financial Times<BR><BR> “Digs wide and deep into the historical record to provide a documentary account of what falling in love and living happily ever after really involved in late Georgian England.”—Kathryn Hughes, Sunday Times<BR><BR> What happened when Jane Austen’s heroines and heroes were finally wed?<BR>  <BR> Marriage is at the centre of Jane Austen’s novels. The pursuit of husbands and wives, advantageous matches, and, of course, love itself, motivate her characters and continue to fascinate readers today. But what were love and marriage like in reality for ladies and gentlemen in Regency England?<BR>  <BR> Rory Muir uncovers the excitements and disappointments of courtship and the pains and pleasures of marriage, drawing on fascinating first-hand accounts as well as novels of the period. From the glamour of the ballroom to the pressures of careers, children, managing money, and difficult in-laws, love and marriage came in many guises: some wed happily, some dared to elope, and other relationships ended with acrimony, adultery, domestic abuse, or divorce. Muir illuminates the position of both men and women in marriage, as well as those spinsters and bachelors who chose not to marry at all.<BR>  <BR> This is a richly textured account of how love and marriage felt for people at the time—revealing their unspoken assumptions, fears, pleasures, and delights.

Weaving together literary and archaeological evidence, Emily Hauser illuminates the rich, intriguing lives of the real women behind Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Achilles. Agamemnon. Odysseus. Hector. The lives of these and many other men in the greatest epics of ancient Greece have been pored over endlessly in the past three millennia. But these are not just tales about heroic men. There are scores of women as well--complex, fascinating women whose stories have gone unexplored for far too long. In Penelope's Bones, award-winning classicist and historian Emily Hauser pieces together compelling evidence from archaeological excavations and scientific discoveries to unearth the richly textured lives of women in Bronze Age Greece--the era of Homer's heroes. Here, for the first time, we come to understand the everyday lives and experiences of the real women who stand behind the legends of Helen, Briseis, Cassandra, Aphrodite, Circe, Athena, Hera, Calypso, Penelope, and more. In this captivating journey through Homer's world, Hauser explains era-defining discoveries, such as the excavation of Troy and the decipherment of Linear B tablets that reveal thousands of captive women and their children; more recent finds like the tomb of the Griffin Warrior at Pylos, whose tomb contents challenge traditional gender attributes; DNA evidence showing that groups of warriors buried near the Black Sea with their weapons and steeds were, in fact, Amazon-like female fighters; a prehistoric dye workshop on Crete that casts fresh light on "women's work" of dyeing, spinning, and weaving textiles; and a superbly preserved shipwreck off the coast of Turkey whose contents tell of the economic and diplomatic networks crisscrossing the Bronze Age Mediterranean. Essential reading for fans of Madeline Miller or Natalie Haynes, this riveting new history brings to life the women of the Bronze Age Aegean as never before, offering a groundbreaking reassessment of the ancient world.

"I've lived in so many countries, yet when anything comes to me, it's nearly always Africa-Africa that sets it."Olive Schreiner's From Man to Man or Perhaps Only—, unfinished at the time of her death and posthumously published in 1926, tells the story of two white women born into the racist, society of mid-nineteenth-century South Africa. One sister remains in the British Cape Colony and finds a way to deal with her husband's infidelities. The other raped at age 15, is hounded out of her insular white South African community, and becomes a kept woman in London's East End. Addressing the ill-effects of a male-dominated imperial capitalism, and positing an equivalence between marriage and prostitution in a society where women's function is primarily sexual, the novel foregrounds the perspective of a young black girl in order to place before its readers the vision of what Schreiner called an "expanded and enlarged humanity".Edited by Dorothy Driver, and based partly on manuscript amendments by Schreiner, reproduces two alternative endings, one apparently told to her husband-editor, and summarised by him, and the other she wrote in a letter to a friend. Driver also provides literary, historical, and linguistic context through an in-depth introduction and expansive notes. This edition includes extracts from Schreiner's letters and journals that cast light on the genesis, composition, and final abandonment of the novel.ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around theglobe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of othervaluable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies forfurther study, and much more.

What does Jane Austen mean when she writes approvingly of a character's 'gentility' and 'delicacy', or critically of another's 'indolence' and 'impertinence'? What are her characters doing when they take the measure of a person's 'air' and 'address'? These questions and more are answered in this Janeite treasure trove, which examines the distinctive language woven through Austen's signature stories.<BR> <BR> Much of the language used in Austen's time has either fallen out of common use or changed valence in significant and surprising ways. Maria Frawley takes 50 of those words - words that are integral to the fabric of Austen's fiction - and explores them in short, accessible and lively entries.<BR><BR> With juicy morsels for lifelong Austen lovers as well as new students of the great writer, Frawley offers new perspectives on Austen's world, giving readers the tools to better understand her novels individually and as a whole.

'Mein lieber Schwan, Barbara Zeman kann Sätze schreiben, da hebt es einem den Kehlkopf an. Ein Roman von großer Seele.' Clemens J. SetzEin Sprachkunstwerk, aufgespannt zwischen Weltraum und UnterwasserweltIn einer winzigen blauen Wohnung lebt Theresa Neges. Ihr Name, der übersetzt 'Du solltest Nein sagen' lautet, scheint nicht ohne Einfluss auf ihr Leben. Einen Beruf hat sie nicht, auch kein Geld. Sie hat nur Josef, ihren Freund, und auch den nicht ganz, trotz Liebe. In ihrem großen grauen Mantel läuft Theresa durch Wien. Liegt im Hallenbad auf dem Beckengrund und übt das Luftanhalten, sucht den Schwindel auf einem Karussell. Denn eigentlich möchte sie ins All: leicht sein, schweben. Und Beteigeuze näher sein, dem gleißend roten Riesenstern im Sternbild Orion, dem sie sich seit ihrer Kindheit verbunden fühlt.Ein poetischer Roman, eigenwillig, bildschön in jedem Satz, mit einer Erzählerin, der man überall hin folgen möchte.'Dieser Roman ist ein Fest des Schauens, und wem das zu pathetisch klingt, der kann es auch eine Party nennen.' Paul Jandl, Neue Zürcher Zeitung über ¿Immerjahn¿

What happened when Jane Austen’s heroines and heroes were finally wed?<BR>  <BR> Marriage is at the centre of Jane Austen’s novels. The pursuit of husbands and wives, advantageous matches, and, of course, love itself, motivate her characters and continue to fascinate readers today. But what were love and marriage like in reality for ladies and gentlemen in Regency England?<BR>  <BR> Rory Muir uncovers the excitements and disappointments of courtship and the pains and pleasures of marriage, drawing on fascinating first-hand accounts as well as novels of the period. From the glamour of the ballroom to the pressures of careers, children, managing money, and difficult in-laws, love and marriage came in many guises: some wed happily, some dared to elope, and other relationships ended with acrimony, adultery, domestic abuse, or divorce. Muir illuminates the position of both men and women in marriage, as well as those spinsters and bachelors who chose not to marry at all.<BR>  <BR> This is a richly textured account of how love and marriage felt for people at the time—revealing their unspoken assumptions, fears, pleasures, and delights.

A manifesto reclaiming the wives and mistresses of literary modernism that inspired a generation of writers and scholars, reissued after more than a decade.<BR><BR>I am beginning to realize that taking the self out of our essays is a form of repression. Taking the self out feels like obeying a gag order—pretending an objectivity where there is nothing objective about the experience of confronting and engaging with and swooning over literature.<BR><BR>On the last day of December 2009, Kate Zambreno, then an unpublished writer, began a blog called "Frances Farmer Is My Sister," arising from her obsession with literary modernism and her recent transplantation to Akron, Ohio, where her partner held a university job. Widely reposted, Zambreno's blog became an outlet for her highly informed and passionate rants and melancholy portraits of the fates of the modernist “wives and mistresses," reclaiming the traditionally pathologized biographies of Vivienne Eliot, Jane Bowles, Jean Rhys, and Zelda Fitzgerald: writers and artists themselves who served as male writers' muses only to end their lives silenced, erased, and institutionalized. Over the course of two years, Frances Farmer Is My Sister helped create a community of writers and devised a new feminist discourse of writing in the margins and developing an alternative canon. <BR><BR>In Heroines, Zambreno extends the polemic begun on her blog into a dazzling, original work of literary scholarship. Combing theories that have dictated what literature should be and who is allowed to write it—she traces the genesis of a cultural template that consistently exiles feminine experience to the realm of the “minor,” and diagnoses women for transgressing social bounds. “ANXIETY: When she experiences it, it's pathological,” writes Zambreno. “When he does, it's existential.” With Heroines, Zambreno provided a model for a newly subjectivized criticism, prefiguring many group biographies and forms of autotheory and hybrid memoirs that were to come in the years to follow. A book that has become its own canon, Heroines was named one of the "50 Books that define the past 5 Years in Literature" by Flavorwire, an "Essential Feminist Manifesto" by Dazed, and one of the "50 Greatest Books by Women" in Buzzfeed.

Christa Wolf, Brigitte Reimann, Maxie Wander - waren sie Träumerinnen oder Macherinnen, diese drei Frauen, die zu Ikonen der DDR-Literatur wurden? In ihrem atmosphärischen Porträt zeigt Carolin Würfel drei Schriftstellerinnen, die im Temperament unterschiedlicher kaum sein könnten und die doch eines eint: die Begeisterung für das Versprechen des Sozialismus, die Bereitschaft, den Traum vom neuen Menschen in ihrem Alltag, ihrer Arbeit und ihren Beziehungen umzusetzen. Mit welchem Selbstbewusstsein diese Frauen in den 1950er und 1960er Jahren ihre Ziele verfolgen, sich dabei als Freundinnen stützen - wie ihre Träume aber auch platzen, davon erzählt Carolin Würfel inspiriert und mitreißend und lässt ein Stück Zeitgeschichte lebendig werden.Christa Wolf, Brigitte Reimann und Maxie Wander - Carolin Würfel porträtiert diese drei Ikonen der DDR-Literatur und wirft einen modernen Blick auf das große Versprechen des Sozialismus.

Man kennt ihn, den Dichter Hermann Hesse, und sein Werk in aller Welt. Über seine Frauen weiß man wenig. Nur eine, Ruth Wenger, hat fast ein halbes Jahrhundert nach der Scheidung, auf wenigen Seiten ihre Erinnerungen notiert - verbittert darüber, 'dass die Bedeutung, die ich in Hermann Hesses Leben hatte, in allen Biographien verschwiegen, verwischt, tot geschwiegen wurde'. Und Mia Hesse, seine erste Ehefrau und Mutter seiner drei Söhne schrieb nach der Scheidung an eine Freundin: 'Ich fühle mich nicht mehr mit ihm verbunden. Ich könnte nie mehr mich seiner Überlegenheit fügen. Das ist vorbei, denn er kann mir nur noch als Dichter etwas geben.'Gestützt auf Dokumente aus dem Nachlass, darunter zahlreiche unveröffentlichte Briefe, richtet Bärbel Reetz ihren Blick auf Hermann Hesses Frauen: die Fotografin Maria Bernoulli, die Sängerin Ruth Wenger und die Kunsthistorikerin Ninon Dolbin-Ausländer.Drei Ehen, zwei Scheidungen, drei Schicksale. Bärbel Reetz zeichnet die Porträts dreier ungewöhnlicher Frauen und macht auch neue, bisher wenig beachtete Facetten der Persönlichkeit Hesses sichtbar - ein Standardwerk der Hermann-Hesse-Forschung.