American Women Writers of the 19th Century - (McFarland Companions to 19th Century Literature) by Heidi M Hanrahan (Paperback)
About this item
Highlights
- The nineteenth century was a period of prolific literary production from women writers, including figures such as Louisa May Alcott, Harriet Jacobs, and Zitkala-Sa, who played pivotal roles in American literary history.
- About the Author: Heidi M. Hanrahan is an English professor at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
- 305 Pages
- Literary Criticism, Reference
- Series Name: McFarland Companions to 19th Century Literature
Description
Book Synopsis
The nineteenth century was a period of prolific literary production from women writers, including figures such as Louisa May Alcott, Harriet Jacobs, and Zitkala-Sa, who played pivotal roles in American literary history. Despite facing societal forces aimed at silencing them, women writers found ways to assert their voices and contribute to the intellectual and political debates of the era. Their works contribute to conversations on a wide range of topics, including art, gender, social reform, slavery, abolition, economic and social inequality, national expansion, Native American dispossession, and the changing identity of the nation. Both retrospective and forward-looking, their written works found diverse audiences of men, women and children.
This book functions as a comprehensive guide to understanding the breadth of nineteenth-century women's writing, exploring not only the writers and their texts but also the literary periods, genres, and key cultural, historical, and social movements that shaped their works. By examining these authors' impact on American literary traditions and their role in cultural discourse, it highlights the lasting relevance of their work in both historical and contemporary contexts.
Review Quotes
"A model of lucidity and informativeness, award-winning teacher Heidi Hanrahan's American Women Writers of the 19th Century is also generous and imaginative. Beautifully conceptualized, it offers a graceful introduction, essential apparatus that includes parallel timelines of literary and historical events, and thoughtful suggestions for further reading. Demonstrating a deep and broad understanding of the field, this work welcomes diverse readers at all stages of study. An invaluable resource."-Karen L. Kilcup, author of Fallen Forests: Emotion, Embodiment, and Ethics in American Women's Environmental Writing, 1781-1924
"Hanrahan offers an extensive analysis of nineteenth-century women's writing, focusing on their complex articulations of gender, race, and class, and their canonicity. This is a fantastic overview for anyone of the rich legacy of these diverse authors."-Cari M. Carpenter, author of Seeing Red: Anger, Sentimentality, and American Indians
About the Author
Heidi M. Hanrahan is an English professor at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Her areas of specialization include nineteenth-century literature, composition, and pedagogy.
