Josephine Donovan is the author of twelve books of nonfiction and the editor of four. A complete list of her publications is available on her web site: http://english.umaine.edu/people/jose.... Her fields of specialization include animal ethics, feminist criticism and theory, American women’s literature (especially nineteenth-century), and early modern women’s literature. Her work has been translated into seven languages (Japanese, French, Turkish, Swedish, Greek, German, and Chinese).
Her most recent books are: Animals, Mind, and Matter: The Inside Story (2022); The Lexington Six: Lesbian and Gay Resistance in 1970s America (2020), a finalist for the Lambda Literary Aware; and The Aesthetics of Care: On the Literary Treatment of Animals. (New York: Bloomsbury, 2016). Recently published: a second, revised edition of Women and the Rise of the Novel (New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2013) St. Martin’s, 1999; paperback, 2000). It was termed “a work of extraordinary significance” by the Choice reviewer, who wrote, “Donovan has defined the field clearly, forthrightly, often brilliantly. All future discussion of the subject begins here” (October 2000). Also recently published was European Local-Color Literature: National Tales, Dorfgeschichten, Romans Champêtres (Bloomsbury, 2010), a work in comparative literature.
Donovan’s best-known book, Feminist Theory: The Intellectual Traditions, first published in 1985, is now in its fourth edition (New York: Bloomsbury, 2012) Amazon.com notes, “this book has established itself as the classic survey and analysis of the roots and development of feminist theory.” A selection of other reviews of Donovan’s books may be found on her web site.
Two of her books, Sarah Orne Jewett and Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Evil, Affliction, and Redemptive Love have recently been reprinted in revised editions on-line and in “print-on-demand” form by Cybereditions.
Born in Manila in 1941, Donovan was evacuated from the Philippines with her mother a few months before Pearl Harbor. Her father, a Captain in the U. S. Army, remained in the Philippines where he was captured by the Japanese in 1942, remaining a P.O.W. for the duration. His memoirs, edited by his daughter, were recently published as P.O.W. in the Pacific: Memoirs of an American Doctor in World War II.
She graduated, cum laude, from Bryn Mawr College in 1962 with a major in history, after spending her Junior Year in Europe. After graduation she worked as a Copy Desk clerk at The Washington Post and Time Magazine and as a general assignment reporter on a small newspaper in upstate New York. During this period she completed a course in Creative Writing at Columbia University.
She received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in comparative literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1967 and 1971, respectively. She has held academic positions at several universities and worked for a time as a Copy Editor for G. K. Hall in Boston. She is Emerita Professor of English at the University of Maine.
Eens in de zoveel tijd lees je een boek dat je kijk op de wereld totaal verandert. Het lezen van dit boek en een aantal andere ecofeministische literatuur voor het vak ethiek opende mij de ogen dat er nog een heel andere manier van denken bestaat dan ons normaal gesproken wordt aangeleerd.
In dit boek wordt in verschillende essays beschreven hoe onze dualistische kijk op de wereld- en vooral op de natuur- geleid heeft tot sexisme, speciesisme, racisme, ableism en andere vormen van onderdrukking. Het stelt niet dat we onze hele rationele kijk op de wereld weg moeten gooien, maar dat we kritisch moeten zijn op de verheerlijking van het pure rationalisme. De schrijvers vinden dat er veel meer ruimte moet zijn voor feminiene waarden binnen onze cultuur en wetenschap, zoals zorg voor de ander en emoties als empathie. Deze feminiene waarden werden vaak gezien als dichter bij de natuur staand en dus als minder waardig. Daarnaast wordt er gesteld dat we af moeten van de dualistische kijk op de natuur, maar wij onszelf daar juist als een deel daarvan moeten zien. Zolang de tweedeling blijft, is er namelijk altijd een reden om "de ander" te domineren en als minderwaardig te zien, of dit nou vrouwen zijn, dieren, of andere kwetsbare groepen.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.