Women in the House of Fiction : Post-War Women Novelists

The novel was once upon a time the genre women felt at home in. This wide- ranging and detailed study of contemporary novelists explores the forms of nostalgia (shared by many feminist critics) for a 'woman's novel'; and the subtle or savage strategies which have turned the house of fiction upside down. The result is a critique of the nature of narrative now; and a celebration of the energies that are undoing our definitions of women's work. Simone De Beauvoir -- Doris Lessing -- Nathalie Sarraute -- Christina Stead -- Jean Rhys -- Elizabeth Smart -- Tillie Olsen -- Francoise Sagan -- Iris Murdoch -- Edna O'brien -- Margaret Drabble -- Mary Mccarthy -- Joyce Johnson -- Kate Millett -- Erica Jong -- Diane Johnson -- Marilyn French -- Fay Weldon -- Margaret Atwood -- Angela Carter -- Toni Morrison -- Joyce Carol Oates. Lorna Sage. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 195-213) And Index. A study of post-war European and American writing by women. The author uses "the house of fiction" as a metaphor for containment and a reminder that fiction isn't placeless. Writers discussed include Simone de Beauvoir, Doris Lessing, Tillie Olsen, Iris Murdoch, Angela Carter and Toni Morrison Front Matter....Pages i-xi After the War....Pages 1-35 Displaced Persons....Pages 36-71 The Middle Ground....Pages 72-113 The Movement....Pages 114-152 Divided amongst Ourselves....Pages 153-194 Back Matter....Pages 195-216