
The Disobedient Writer
Women and Narrative Tradition
Nancy A. Walker(Author)
University of Texas Press
Published on 1. April 1995
Book
Paperback/Softback
215 pages
978-0-292-79096-4 (ISBN)
Description
For centuries, women who aspired to write had to enter a largely male literary tradition that offered few, if any, literary forms in which to express their perspectives on lived experience. Since the nineteenth century, however, women writers and readers have been producing "disobedient" counter-narratives that, while clearly making reference to the original texts, overturn their basic assumptions.
This book looks at both canonical and non-canonical works, over a variety of fiction and nonfiction genres, that offer counter-readings of familiar Western narratives. Nancy Walker begins by probing women's revisions of two narrative traditions pervasive in Western culture: the biblical story of Adam and Eve, and the traditional fairy tales that have served as paradigms of women's behavior and expectations. She goes on to examine the works of a wide range of writers, from contemporaries Marilynne Robinson, Ursula Le Guin, Anne Sexton, Fay Weldon, Angela Carter, and Margaret Atwood to precursors Caroline Kirkland, Fanny Fern, Mary De Morgan, Mary Louisa Molesworth, Edith Nesbit, and Evelyn Sharp.
This book looks at both canonical and non-canonical works, over a variety of fiction and nonfiction genres, that offer counter-readings of familiar Western narratives. Nancy Walker begins by probing women's revisions of two narrative traditions pervasive in Western culture: the biblical story of Adam and Eve, and the traditional fairy tales that have served as paradigms of women's behavior and expectations. She goes on to examine the works of a wide range of writers, from contemporaries Marilynne Robinson, Ursula Le Guin, Anne Sexton, Fay Weldon, Angela Carter, and Margaret Atwood to precursors Caroline Kirkland, Fanny Fern, Mary De Morgan, Mary Louisa Molesworth, Edith Nesbit, and Evelyn Sharp.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 227 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
331 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-292-79096-4 (9780292790964)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Nancy A. Walker (1942-2000) was Professor of English and Director of the Women's Studies Center at Vanderbilt University.
Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Acts of Disobedience
Part One. Engaging Mythologies
1. In the Beginning: Revisiting the Garden
2. Twice Upon a Time
Part Two. Reaching past the "New Eden"
3. Resisting American Mythologies: Individualism and Sentiment
Part Three. Telling Tales
4. One's Own Story
5. Of Hester and Offred
Epilogue
Notes
Works Cited
Index
Introduction: Acts of Disobedience
Part One. Engaging Mythologies
1. In the Beginning: Revisiting the Garden
2. Twice Upon a Time
Part Two. Reaching past the "New Eden"
3. Resisting American Mythologies: Individualism and Sentiment
Part Three. Telling Tales
4. One's Own Story
5. Of Hester and Offred
Epilogue
Notes
Works Cited
Index