The Tradition Of Women S Autobiography

In this ground-breaking literary history, Estelle Jelinek traces startling consistencies in the way women have written about their lives from an early Roman memoir to contemporary American autobiographies. In fact, Jelinek establishes a distinctive tradition of women's autobiography that differs remarkably from men's autobiography in content, narrative form, and projected self-image.For all those interested in literature, history, and women's studies, The Tradition of Women's Autobiography challenges us to reevaluate the art of autobiography, enriching and expanding the genre's possibilities to include a women's tradition whose respected place in the literary history of the genre is long overdue.

An overview of women's autobiography, providing historical background and contemporary criticism along with selections from a range of autobiographies by women. It seeks to provide a broad introduction to the major questions dominating autobiographical scholarship today.

The first comprehensive guide to the burgeoning field of women's autobiography. Essays from 39 prominent critics and writers explore narratives across the centuries and from around the globe. A list of more than 200 women's autobiographies and a comprehensive bibliography provide invaluable information for scholars, teachers, and readers.

Contains nearly two hundred alphabetically arranged entries that provide information on women's autobiography, covering selected authors from throughout history, major works, nationalities or ethnicities, and related issues, themes, and terms.

Focusing primarily on the period from the eighteenth-century to the present, this interdisciplinary volume takes a fresh look at the institutions and practices of autobiography and self-portraiture in Europe, the United States and other cultures.

Autobiography raises a vital issue in feminist critical theory today: the imperative need to situate the female subject. Life/Lines, a collection of essays on women's autobiography, attempts to meet this need.