Description
Book SynopsisThis book offers an in-depth analysis as to how and why women have been widely
associated with madness since ancient times. The first part of the book comprises a
historical survey of various perceptions of madness across the centuries, while the
second part of the book covers a wide selection of literary works by American and
English writers who dealt with this subject in their works. In this part of the book,
the authors examine selected works of literature from a feminist perspective by
also drawing on the works of influential theorists of feminist criticism. The authors
further show how these writers, who have been influenced by various philosophers
and theoreticians, critically examine women’s madness in their fiction.
Table of ContentsEnglish literature – Women studies – Madness – Women literature – Gender studies – Margery Kempe – Mary Wollstonecraft – Emily Brontë – Charlotte Brontë – Mary Elizabeth Braddon – Charlotte Perkins Gilman – Virginia Woolf – Jean Rhys – Daphne du Maurier – Doris Lessing – Kate Milett – Phyllis Chesler – Marge Piercy – Joanne Greenberg – Kay Redfield Jamison – Joan Didion – Nawal el Saadawi – Shirtley Jackson – Sylvia Plath – Elizabeth Flock – Susanna Kaysen.
