Description
Book SynopsisDuring the women's movement of the 1970s and 1980s, feminists in the United States and Britain reinvented the image of the woman letter writer. They wrote letters, exploring questions of sexuality, separatism, and strategy. This book provides a cultural study of these letters.
Trade ReviewThis is a smart and savvy book--a fascinating study of what letters have meant to women as writers and readers over the past four decades. Situating letter writing as both demand and gift and mapping the feminist ethic of care that developed from this vast personal archive, In Love and Struggle is essential for feminist cultural projects. -- Julia Watson, Ohio State University In Love and Struggle is a lively story of second-wave British and American feminists, revealed through their public and intimate letters. From the women's encampments at Greenham Common and beside the Seneca Army Depot to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, Margaretta Jolly shows how vital epistolary testimony has been. She provides an overview of feminist literary criticism of epistolarity, and she analyzes letters between mothers and daughters, lesbian love letters, email novels, memoirs, and feminist activist communities on the Web. Drawing on archival research, feminist theory, and ethics, Jolly examines a wide range of social, literary, and political practices in which letter writing plays a pivotal role. -- Linda S. Kauffman, professor of English, University of Maryland Jolly's fascinating book... makes a major contribution to the available literature. -- June Purvis Times Higher Education An important work... Highly recommended. Choice An important contribution to the history of second-wave feminism and offers valuable new insights into letter writing as a feminist literary practice. -- Emma Parker Feminist Review lively, engaging and often poignant... -- Sarah Poustie Life Writings
Table of ContentsIntroduction. The Feminist World of Love and Ritual Part I. Yours in Sisterhood... 1. Love Letters to a New Me 2. Feminist Epistolary Romance 3. Velvet Boxing Gloves Part II: Letter Writing and the Ethics of Care 4. Theorizing Feminist Letters 5. Mothers and Daughters in Correspondence 6. Writing the Web: Letters from the Women's Peace Movement 7. Do Webs Work? Letters and the Clash of Communities Part III: The Right to Be Cared For: Letters and the Life Cycle of a Social Movement 8. Care Versus Autonomy: The Problem of (Loving) Men 9. The Paradox of Care as a Right 10. How Different Is E-mail? 11. Care Ethics Online Part IV: The Afterlife of Letters 12. On Burning and Saving Letters 13. Stealing Letters: The Ethics of Epistolary Research Conclusion Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index
