Literature and Gender: An Introductory Textbook (Approaching Literature)

Literature and Gender combines an introduction to and an anthology of literary texts which powerfully demonstrate the relevance of gender issues to the study of literature. The volume covers all three major literary genres - poetry, fiction and drama - and closely examines a wide range of themes, including:



feminity versus creativity in women's lives and writing



the construction of female characters



autobiography and fiction



the gendering of language



the interaction of race, class and gender within writing, reading and interpretation.







Literature and Gender is also a superb resource of primary texts, and includes writing by:



Sappho



Emily Dickinson



Sylvia Plath



Tennyson



Elizabeth Bishop



Louisa May Alcott



Virginia Woolf



Jamaica Kincaid



Charlotte Perkins Gilman



Susan Glaspell







Also reproduced are essential essays by, amoung others, Maya Angelou, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Toni Morrison, Elaine Showalter, and Alice Walker. No other book on this subject provides an anthology, introduction and critical reader in one volume. Literature and Gender is the ideal guide for any student new to this field.