Feminism & Autobiography

by Tess Cosslett, Tess Cosslett (Editor), Celia Lury (Editor)

Featuring essays by leading feminist scholars from a variety of disciplines, this key text explores the latest developments in autobiographical studies. The collection is structured around the inter-linked concepts of genre, inter-subjectivity and memory. Whilst exemplifying the very different levels of autobiographical activity going on in feminist studies, the contributions chart a movement from autobiography as genre to autobiography as cultural practice, and from the analysis of autobiographical texts to a preoccupation with autobiography as method.

284 pages, Hardcover

First published October 19, 2000

Reviews

[Theryn Fleming]

Feminism and Autobiography is a collection of essays on autobiography by feminist academics in a variety of disciplines. The book is organized around three concepts: genre, intersubjectivity and memory. Section one focuses on genre, specifically the different kinds of writing—different mediations—that can be considered authobiography and the interdisciplinarity of the practice. Section two focuses on intersubjectivity, which refers to both the relationship between personal narratives and public stories and the relationship between narrator and audience. The implication is that the subject can never be isolated; others are always a part of the production of a narrative. Section three focuses on memory, which the editors call intersubjective and dialogical: "Autobiography … depends on the deployment of an often shifting, partial and contested set of personal or collective memories." (p. 4).

[Cassey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful, with a mix of quality overall the articles.