Women's Lives/Women's Times: New Essays on Auto/Biography (Feminist Theory Educ

by Trev Lynn Broughton (Editor), Linda Anderson (Series Editor)

"What I like most about this book is the fine balance between theory and pedagogy it achieves. The theoretical discussions are carefully developed, thoughtful, and richly provocative, drawing on complex theories to unpack the subtleties and contradictions of women's autobiography in its many forms. Yet the essays themselves are full of valuable and very accessible information that could be used to develop and/or enrich courses in women's autobiography and women's studies in general. Women's Lives/Women's Times reflects the growing interest in life-writing as a basis for both feminist theorizing and women-centered education. Itdiscusses the many ways in which the study of autobiography can contribute to the theory, practice, and politics of women's studies as curriculum, and to feminist theory more generally. This volume is concerned with the application of theory to text-particularly with the assumptions and discourses of postmodernism-but also in exploring how general theories of the subject do not always fit comfortably with the specifics of autobiographical writing. It also recognizes the challenge women's autobiography offers to theory, taking us, in its complex weave of the personal, the political, and the theoretical, beyond the usual generic and disciplinary boundaries.

291 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997