A review by shaunnow38
A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists From Brontë to Lessing by Elaine Showalter

4.0

Comprehensive study of the development and genealogies of women's writing in England from the early 19th century to the late 20th century. Showalter's writing is effective but very pleasant to read. The largest gaps I would note are in the exclusion of lesbian and bisexual cultures within women's writing, even as Showalter makes gestures towards those possibilities. Her analysis of Virginia Woolf's life and writing, for example, seems to lack a lot in the exclusion of her relationship with Vita Sackville-West. I don't know if this was a gap in knowledge at the time, or simply a choice on Showalter's part. If it is the former, then there is no fault to be had, if the latter, a serious gap in my opinion.

Overall, this text was a good introduction to the various threads of women's writing. It is definitely more literary history than literary theory, and it should be read as such.