Writing, Sex and Gender

When, why and how do matters of sex and gender become important? How are these matters grasped and represented? What is the role of literature in this? How does it respond to and define understanding of sex and gender and writing? What kinds of theories are developed to think about these issues? What terms and critical conceptions do such theories employ, and what are their interrelations today?In providing some initial bases for thinking about and answering these questions, Stephen Heath has written a clear, succinct, and much-needed introduction to issues around sex and gender and writing. Addressing a wide range of different kinds of writing, he examines why these issues have become important, both in literature and in theory, from the mid-nineteenth century through to the present. While his primary focus is upon English literature, culture and society, it is necessarily widened at points, notably to draw on French and German historical and theoretical developments.