From Girl to Woman: American Women's Coming-Of-Age Narratives (Suny Series in Feminist Criticism and Theory & Suny Series in Postmodern Culture)

From Girl To Woman Examines The Coming-of-age Narratives Of A Diverse Group Of American Women Writers, Including Annie Dillard, Zora Neale Hurston, Maxine Hong Kingston, And Mary Mccarthy, And Explores The Crucial Role Of Such Narratives In The Development Of American Feminism. Women Have Long Known That Identity Is Complex And Contradictory, But In The Twentieth Century Their Coming-of-age Narratives Finally Voice This Knowledge. Addressing A Variety Of Themes - Awakening Sexuality, The Body's Metamorphosis In Puberty, Consciousness Of Difference From Males, And The Socialization Into Feminine Gender Roles - These Narratives Reject The Heroine's Narrative Ending In Romance, Allowing American Women Writers To Create Alternative Subjectivities By Rejecting The Notion That Identity Is Ever Fixed. While Activists Have Succeeded In Winning Legal Battles That Have Changed The Legal Status Of Women, These Narratives Perform The Cultural Work Of Exposing The Painful Contradictions Faced By Women As They Come Of Age.--jacket. 1. Identity And The Coming-of-age Narrative -- Recreating Womanhood -- -- 2. Feminism, Autobiography, And Theories Of Subjectivity -- Feminism And The Autobiographical Act -- Western Theories Of Subjectivity -- Feminist Poststructuralist Revisions To Subjectivity -- -- 3. Coming Of Age In America -- Historical Accounts Of Adolescence -- Psychological Accounts Of Adolescence -- Literary Accounts Of Coming Age -- The Coming-of-age-narrative -- American Grand Narratives Of Coming Of Age -- -- 4. Specifying American Girlhood : Annie Dillard And Anne Moody -- Specifying The Universal In An American Childhood -- Hegemonic Inscription Of The Body In Coming Of Age In Mississippi -- -- 5. Lying Contests : Fictional Autobiography And Autobiographical Fiction -- Lying Contests : Signifying Coming Of Age Janie's Ways Of Knowing -- -- 6. Room For Paradoxes : Creating A Hybrid Identity -- A World Of Paper Strengths : The Education Of Kate Simon -- Mythology And Narrative In The Creation Of Identity: The Woman Warrior. By Christy Rishoi. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 161-190) And Index.