Deferrals of Domain; Contemporary Women Novelists and the State

Brownley, Martine Watson

ISBN 10: 0312228112 / ISBN 13: 9780312228118

Published by St. Martin's Press, 2000

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 018990

Bibliographic Details

Title: Deferrals of Domain; Contemporary Women ...

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Publication Date: 2000

Binding: Hardback

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis:

Contemporary female novelists tend to portray the relationship between women and the state as profoundly negative, in contrast to various constructions in current feminist theory. Martine Watson Brownley analyzes novels by Margaret Atwood, Paule Marshall, Nadine Gordimer, and Margaret Drabble to explore the significance of this disparity. The book uses literary analysis to highlight elements of state power that many feminist theorists currently occlude, ranging from women's still minimal access to state politics to the terrifying violence exercised by modern states. At the same time, however, feminist theory clarifies major elements in many contemporary women's lives about which the novels are ambivalent or misleading, such as romantic love and the role of sexuality in state politics. Deferrals of Domain fills a double gap, both authorial and topical, in current critical treatments of women writers and will be of interest to both literary and women's studies scholars.

About the Author:

Martine Watson Brownley is Goodrich C. White Professor of English at Emory University.