The Oxford Book of Women's Writing in the United States
Cathy N Davidson editor Linda Wagner-Martin editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Provocative and compulsively readable, lively, engaging, and brilliantly representative, The Oxford Book of Women's Writing in the United States presents short stories, poems, essays, plays, speeches, performance pieces, erotica, diaries, correspondence, and even a few recipes from nearly one hundred of our best women writers. Reveling in the awareness that the best U.S. women's writing is, quite simply, some of the best in the world, editors Linda Wagner-Martin and Cathy N. Davidson have chosen selections spanning four centuries and reflecting the rich variety of American women's lives. The collection embraces the perspectives of age and youth, the traditional and the revolutionary, the public and the private. Here is Judith Sargent Murray's 1790 essay "On the Equality of the Sexes," journalist Martha Gellhorn's "Last Words on Vietnam, 1987," and Mary Gordon's homage to the ghosts of Ellis Island, "More Than Just a Shrine"; powerful short stories by Zora Neale Hurston, Edith Wharton, Cynthia Ozick, and Toni Morrison; letters from Abigail Adams, Sarah Moore Grimke[accent], Emma Goldman, and Georgia O'Keeffe; Alice B. Toklas's recipe "Bass for Picasso," and erotic offerings from Anais Nin and Rita Mae Brown. The moving autobiography of Zitkala- Sa[accent], whose mother was a Sioux, tells us more about "otherness" than any sociological treatise, while Janice Mirikitani's and Nellie Wong's poems about being young Asian-American women, like Alice Walker's meditation on the beauty of growing old, speak to all readers. A thought-provoking introduction and descriptive headnotes explore the history of women's writing in ways that help the reader to understand the American women who have used language to change their worlds and to remember the past, and as a means of etching their deepest, fondest dreams. A joy to read, The Oxford Book of Women's Writing in the United States is filled with eye-opening and unexpected selections. It is the perfect book for anyone fascinated by women's writing and women's lives.
"A sumptuous selection of short fiction and poetry....[The] invitation to share the passion of women's voices characterizes the entire volume."--Steven G. Kellman, USA Today
"What an extraordinary collection! The editors have compiled a rich selection of powerful texts in a wide variety of genres and have organized them with such imagination that the book is both a sourcebook for exploring the cultural history of women's experience in the U.S. and a remarkably compact, yet quite comprehensive, literary survey. It belongs on every reader's bookshelf."--Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside
"There is no more exciting collection of women's writing in the United State than this one--a panoply of delights that I can't wait to teach from. The selections (from modern and classic women writers) show the rich complexity of women at work in every form, from recipes and erotica through political treatises and performance peices. Now, one can imagine a course in women's writing that will capture students' imaginations, and that will appeal to their bodies, stomachs, souls, and minds."--Louise DeSalvo, Hunter College
"A superb collection representing the full range of American women's writing over four centuries--and a great read besides. Particularly valuable are the new conceptual categories the editors introduce, which promote fresh approaches to both familiar and unfamiliar examples of women's writing."--Carolyn L. Karcher, Temple University
"This is the best source for teaching the continuum of writing by women that I know of. The Oxford Book of Women's Writing in the United States will change the canon of American literature. Watch out Hemingway. Make way, Faulkner. There is another range of voice to be heard."--E.M. Broner, author A Weave of Women, The Telling, and Mornings and Mourning
"A lush collection! Each selection obviously reflects a caring and thoughtful decision that respects and celebrates the craft and event of women's writing in the United States. Wagner-Martin and Davidson have made insistent and clear the impressive breadth of women's writing--as well the elegant diversity of women who write. This is surely a volume to treasure and teach."--Karla F.C. Holloway, author Codes of Conduct: Race, Ethics, and the Color of Our Character
"A masterly and comprehensive anthology giving context to the long battle for the vote--and for women's continuing struggle in the years since." --Library Journal
"Offers a sumptuous selection of short fiction and poetry....Its invitation to share the passion of women's voices characterizes the entire volume."--USA Today
"A generous survey of American women's voices that is as remarkable for its quality as it is for its breadth....As textbook, reference work, or cover-to-cover recreational reading, this collection is an outstanding editorial achievement."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Editors Wagner-Martin and Davidson pay tribute to the vibrant variety of American women's lives and writing in this meandering and happily idiosyncratic anthology....They've created a wonderful spectrum that stretches from Edith Wharton to Toni Morrison, Emily Dickinson to Adrienne Rich, Emma Goldman to Anna Quindlen, zouisa May Alcott to Laurie Anderson."--Booklist
"The editors offer a broad range that includes well-known Anglo writers as well as a handful of ethnic writers. It's this kind of balance that makes turning each page a joy. Whether you are discovering Helena Maria Viramontes or rediscovering Edith Wharton, it's a gem you can't put down....The editors have succeeded in bringing cohesion to a rich history of women's writing in the United States."--Copley News Service
ISBN: 9780195132458
Dimensions: 217mm x 140mm x 37mm
Weight: 762g
608 pages