The History of British Women's Writing, 1945-1975

"Clare Hanson and Susan Watkins accomplished mapping of the literary-historical period between 1945 and 1975 is an excellent addition to Palgrave's invaluable History of British Women's Writing. Sixteen specially commissioned essays by well-known scholars and newly emergent critical voices insightfully 'look back in gender' at the diverse and eclectic range of writing emanating from the bomb sites of postwar London through to the pioneering days of the women's liberation movement. An engaging, impeccably researched collection which is pleasingly wide in its scope features children's literature, journalism and science fiction alongside migrant writing and experimental drama and poetry. This will be a 'must read' for students of literature, gender and history for many years to come." (Mary Joannou, Emerita Professor of Women's Writing and Literary History, Anglia Ruskin University, UK)>

Attending closely to the politics of form, the sixteen essays range across ‘literary’, ‘middlebrow’ and ‘popular’ genres, including espionage thrillers and historical fiction, children’s literature and science fiction, as well as poetry, drama and journalism.This volume reshapes our understanding of British literary culture from 1945-1975 by exploring the richness and diversity of women’s writing of this period. Essays by leading scholars reveal the range and intensity of women writers’ engagement with post-war transformations including the founding of the Welfare State, the gradual liberalization of attitudes to gender and sexuality and the reconfiguration of Britain and the empire in the context of the Cold War. Attending closely to the politics of form, the sixteen essays range across ‘literary’, ‘middlebrow’ and ‘popular’ genres, including espionage thrillers and historical fiction, children’s literature and science fiction, as well as poetry, drama and journalism. They examine issues including realism and experimentalism, education, class and politics, the emergence of ‘second-wave’ feminism, responses to the Holocaust and mass migration and diaspora.  The volume offers an exciting reassessment of women’s writing at a time of radical social change and rapid cultural expansion.