It’s hard to believe there hasn’t been a definitive history of American Women Writers written until this volume by Elaine Showalter. A Jury of Her Peers is a mixed bag. The strongest chapter for me was “Against Women’s Writing: Wharton and Cather.” The weakest chapters are the last few on women writers of the 1970s to the 1990s. It seemed to me that Showalter just ran out of gas in her 600 page tome.
The book’s title brings back memories of the short story by Susan Gaspell, a staple of freshman English for many years.
Yes, Susan Gaspell is mentioned. I’m just amazed it took this long for someone to produce a book like this. It will be a staple in all the U.S. graduate schools and libraries.
Considering all the womens’ studies programs and all the female English professors, it is amazing. But by putting them in one volume, it implies there are not so many. Is there a one-volume work on American Men Writers? I bet not.
You would win that bet, Patti. But there are plenty of forgotten writers (and novels) in this volume.
I’m already making sure our library has purchased it.
A Jury of Her Peers will be the standard reference book in this area for years. But be warned: it’s more of a catalog than a work of insightful analysis.