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List of Illustrations xxvii
General Introduction xli
The Fourteenth through Seventeenth Centuries
A Historical Overview, 1300–1700 4
Women’s Place in Society: The Dispossessed 6
Owning Their Words: Women’s Writing, 1300–1700
Timeline 17
3
13
JULIAN OF NORWICH (c. 1342–c. 1416; England) 23
From Revelation of Divine Love 24
Chapter 3, The illness thus obtained from God 24
Chapter 5, God is all that is good 25
Chapter 59, Wickedness is transformed into blessedness 26
Chapter 60, We are brought back and fulfilled by our Mother Jesus
27
MARGERY KEMPE (c. 1373–c. 1438; England) 28
From The Book of Margery Kempe 29
Chapter 1 [Margery’s First Vision] 29
Chapter 11 [Margery Reaches a Settlement with Her Husband] 31
Chapter 46 [Margery’s Encounter with the Mayor of Leicester] 32
ANNE ASKEW (c. 1521–1546; England) 33
The Ballad Which Anne Askew Made and Sang When She Was
in Newgate 34
From The Latter Examination 36
The Sum of My Examination afore the King’s Council at Greenwich
Cultural Coordinates: Needlework
36
39
QUEEN ELIZABETH I (1533–1603; England) 41
The Dread of Future Foes
42
A Song Made by Her Majesty
42
ISABELLA WHITNEY (c. 1540s–c. 1578; England) 43
The Manner of Her Will, and What She Left to London and to All Those
in It, at Her Departing 44
ix
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MARY SIDNEY HERBERT, COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE (1561–1621;
England) 52
A Dialogue between Two Shepherds. Thenot and Piers, in Praise
of Astraea 53
AEMILIA LANYER (1569–1645; England) 55
From Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum 56
To the Virtuous Reader 56
Eve’s Apology in Defence of Women
The Description of Cooke-ham 60
58
Cultural Coordinates: Household Space
66
LADY MARGARET CUNNINGHAM (c. 1580–c. 1622; Scotland) 68
From A Part of the Life of Lady Margaret Cuninghame, Daughter of the
Earl of Glencairn, That She Had with Her First Husband, the Master
of Evandale 68
[An account of domestic abuse] 68
LADY MARY WROTH (c. 1586–c. 1651; England) 70
From Pamphilia to Amphilanthus 71
1 [When night’s black mantle could most darkness prove]
13 [Cloyed with the torments of a tedious night] 72
15 [Dear famish not what you yourself gave food] 72
16 [Am I thus conquered] 72
22 [Come darkest night] 73
25 [Like to the Indians, scorched with the sun] 73
71
LADY ANNE CLIFFORD (1590–1676; England) 74
From The Diary of Lady Anne Clifford (1616–19) 75
February 1616 [Meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury]
March 1616 [A Refusal to Capitulate] 76
April 1616 [From London to Knole] 76
May 1616 [Her Mother Dies] 77
Cultural Coordinates: Scolds
75
79
DOROTHY LEIGH (Active c. 1616; England) 81
From The Mothers Blessing 81
To My Beloved Sons, George, John, and William Leigh, All Things
Pertaining to Life and Godliness 81
Chapter 2, The First Cause of Writing Is a Motherly Affection 82
Chapter 13, It Is Great Folly for a Man to Mislike His Own Choice
82
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ELIZABETH BROOKE JOCELIN (c. 1595–1622; England) 83
From The Mothers Legacie, to Her Unborne Childe 84
Epistle Dedicatory: To My Truly Loving and Most Dearly Loved Husband,
Turrell Jocelin 84
Cultural Coordinates: Women’s Community
in Childbirth Rooms 87
ANNE BRADSTREET (1612–1672; England, American colonies) 89
From The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America 90
The Prologue 90
The Author to Her Book 91
Before the Birth of One of Her Children 92
In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet
Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House 93
To My Dear and Loving Husband 94
93
MARGARET FELL FOX (1614–1702; England) 95
From Women’s Speaking Justified 96
[The Church of Christ Is a Woman] 96
LADY ANNE HALKETT (c. 1622–1699; England) 97
From Memoirs 98
[Her Mother Threatens to Disown Her]
98
MARGARET LUCAS CAVENDISH, DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE
(1623–1674; England) 100
From The Philosophical and Physical Opinions 101
To the Two universities [Epistle: To the Most Famously Learned]
101
From Philosophical Letters: or, Modest Reflections 102
XXXVI [Other Creatures May Be as Wise as Men] 102
MARY BOYLE RICH (1624–1678; Ireland, England) 103
From Diary 104
[Events of 1624– 43, Including a Complicated Romantic Affair]
Cultural Coordinates: Women’s Spiritual Diaries
ELIZABETH CAVENDISH EGERTON (1626–1663; England) 113
From Loose Papers 113
When I Lost My Dear Girl Kate
113
KATHERINE FOWLER PHILIPS (1631–1664; England) 114
A Married State
114
104
111
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Upon the Double Murder of K. Charles I
115
On the Death of My First and Dearest Child, Hector Philips
Friendship’s Mystery, To My Dearest Lucasia
117
To My Excellent Lucasia, On Our Friendship
118
Orinda to Lucasia
116
118
MARY ROWLANDSON (c. 1637–1711; England, American colonies) 119
From A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary
Rowlandson 120
The First Remove 120
The Third Remove 122
The Twentieth Remove 124
APHRA BEHN (c. 1640–1689; England) 125
The Rover
127
Cultural Coordinates: Restoration Actresses
200
ANNE KILLIGREW (c. 1660–1685; England) 202
A Farewell to Worldly Joys
202
Upon the Saying That My Verses Were Made by Another
The Discontent
203
204
ANNE FINCH (1661–1720; England) 207
A Letter to Daphnis
The Introduction
208
209
Ardelia to Melancholy
To the Nightingale
The Apology
210
211
212
A Nocturnal Reverie
213
Cultural Coordinates: Menstruation and Misogyny
JANE SHARP (Active 1671; England) 216
From The Midwives Book 217
Of the Fashion and Greatness of the Womb, and of the Parts It Is
Made Of 217
The Eighteenth Century
221
The Eighteenth Century: An Overview 221
Women’s Place in Society: The Rise of the New Domestic Woman
226
215
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Women and the Literary Scene, 1700–1799
Timeline 236
234
LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU (1689–1762; England) 239
From Turkish Embassy Letters 240
Letter 27 [A Visit to a Turkish Bath]
Letter 41 [Sultana Hafise] 243
240
ELIZA HAYWOOD (c. 1693–1756; England) 248
[The Dangers of Tea]
249
MARY LEAPOR (1722–1746; England) 251
Crumble-Hall
251
An Essay on Woman
The Headache
255
257
MERCY OTIS WARREN (1728–1814; United States) 258
An Address to the Inhabitants of the United States
259
JANET SCHAW (1734–c. 1801; Scotland) 262
From The Journal of a Lady of Quality: Being a Narrative of a Journey from
Scotland to the West Indies 262
[Society in Antigua] 262
[A Visit to Olovaze] 264
Cultural Coordinates: At Sea
267
MARY COLLIER (Active 1739–1760; England) 269
The Woman’s Labour
269
ANNA LAETITIA AIKIN BARBAULD (1743–1825; England) 275
The Rights of Woman
276
To a Little Invisible Being Who Is Expected Soon to Become Visible
Washing-Day
278
ABIGAIL ADAMS (1744–1818; United States) 280
From The Adams Family Correspondence 281
[The Nature of Woman’s Experience] 281
[“Remember the Ladies”] 282
[Education in the New Republic] 284
Cultural Coordinates: Bluestockings
HANNAH MORE (1745–1833; England) 287
The Black Slave Trade
288
285
277
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From Strictures on a Modern System of Female Education
Chapter 1, An Address to Women of Rank and Fortune
The White Slave Trade
296
296
306
Cultural Coordinates: The Hoop-Petticoat
311
FRANCES BURNEY (D’ARBLAY) (1752–1840; England) 313
From The Early Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney
[A Young Writer’s Diary] 315
From Diary and Letters of Madame d’Arblay
[The Publication of Evelina] 316
315
316
From The Early Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney
[Life in the Court of George III] 321
321
From Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into
the World 322
Letter 10 [Evelina Arrives in London] 322
Letter 11 [Evelina at the Ball] 324
Letter 12 [A Trip to Ranelagh] 329
Letter 15 [A Dangerous Walk in Vauxhall] 332
Cultural Coordinates: Shopping
340
PHILLIS WHEATLEY (c. 1754–1784; United States) 342
On Being Brought from Africa to America
343
On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield
343
To S. M. a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works
To His Excellency General Washington
344
345
JANE CAVE (Active c. 1786; England) 346
Written by the Desire of a Lady, on an Angry, Petulant Kitchen-Maid
Written a Few Hours before the Birth of a Child
ELIZA FAY (1756–1816; England)
347
348
From Original Letters from India 349
Letter 14 [Madras] 349
Letter 15 [Calcutta] 351
Letter 16 [Calcutta cont’d] 352
Letter 20 [Calcutta cont’d] 355
MARY DARBY ROBINSON (1758–1800; England) 358
London’s Summer Morning
January, 1795
361
360
346
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Cultural Coordinates: Prostitution
xv
363
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT (1759–1797; England) 365
From A Vindication of the Rights of Woman with Strictures on Political and
Moral Subjects 366
Author’s Introduction 366
Chapter 2, The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed 370
Chapter 9, Of the Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural
Distinctions Established in Society 375
Cultural Coordinates: Breast-feeding and the
Wet Nurse 383
JANET LITTLE (1759–1813; Scotland) 384
Given to a Lady Who Asked Me to Write a Poem
384
MARIA EDGEWORTH (1767–1849; Ireland, England) 386
From Letters for Literary Ladies 388
Letters of Julia and Caroline 388
DOROTHY WORDSWORTH (1771–1855; England) 402
From The Grasmere Journals 403
[A Brother’s Departure, May 14, 1800]
[Daffodils, April 1802] 404
[Good Friday, April 16, 1802] 405
[William Marries, September 24, 1802]
403
406
MARY BIRKETT (1774–1817; Ireland) 407
A Poem on the African Slave Trade
408
Cultural Coordinates: The Tea Table
416
MARY PRINCE (1788–c. 1833; Bermuda, Turk Islands, Antigua, England) 418
The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave
419
ELIZABETH HANDS (Active 1789; England) 438
Written, Originally Extempore, on Seeing a Mad Heifer Run through the
Village Where the Author Lives 439
A Poem, on the Supposition of the Book Having Been Published
and Read 439
ANNA MARIA FALCONBRIDGE (Active 1790s; England) 442
From Two Voyages to Sierra Leone
[A Trip to Bance Island] 443
443
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The Nineteenth Century
The Nineteenth Century: An Overview 451
Women’s Place in Society: Re-imagining Womanhood
Women’s Writing, 1800–1899 463
Timeline 470
451
460
Cultural Coordinates: The First Australian
Woman Writer 477
SUSANNA HASWELL ROWSON (1762–1824; England, United States) 478
Charlotte Temple
479
Cultural Coordinates: The Corset, or Why Heroines Faint
So Often 543
JANE AUSTEN (1775–1817; England) 545
Library of Women’s Literature: Pride and Prejudice (1813)
From Northanger Abbey 547
Chapters 4–5 [Catherine and Isabella Become Friends]
547
Cultural Coordinates: Cassandra’s Sketch and
“Gentle Jane” 552
CATHARINE MARIA SEDGWICK (1789–1867; United States) 554
Cacoethes Scribendi
555
LYDIA HOWARD HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY (1791–1865; United States) 564
To a Shred of Linen
566
Unspoken Language
567
Eve
570
FELICIA DOROTHEA BROWNE HEMANS (1793–1835; England) 572
England’s Dead
Bring Flowers
Casabianca
574
575
576
MARY SHELLEY (1797–1851; England, Italy) 577
From Frankenstein [The Monster’s Narrative] 579
Chapter 11 [The Monster’s Early Days] 579
Chapter 12 [The Monster Learns Language] 584
Chapter 13 [The Monster Begins to Recognize His Difference]
Chapter 14 [The Cottagers’ History] 590
587
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Chapter 15 [The Monster Reads the Classics and Makes a Friend]
Chapter 16 [The Monster Seeks His Creator] 598
Chapter 17 [The Monster’s Demand] 603
593
SOJOURNER TRUTH (c. 1797–1883; United States) 606
From The Narrative of Sojourner Truth
Her Birth and Parentage 607
Accommodations 607
Her Brothers and Sisters 608
607
[Sojourner Truth’s “Ar’n’t I a Woman” Speech, as Reported in the AntiSlavery Bugle] 609
[Sojourner Truth’s “Ar’n’t I a Woman” Speech, as Recorded in Reminiscences
of Frances D. Gage] 609
Cultural Coordinates: Cartes de Visite
612
HARRIET MARTINEAU (1802–1876; England) 613
From Morals of Slavery
614
LYDIA MARIA CHILD (1802–1880; United States) 619
From An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans
Preface 620
Chapter 1, Brief History of Negro Slavery 621
From Letters from New-York
Letter 34 [Women’s Rights]
631
631
SUSANNA MOODIE (1803–1885; England, Canada) 635
From Roughing It in the Bush 637
[The Adventures of One Night] 637
Cultural Coordinates: How Did They Do It?
The Mechanics of Writing 640
ANGELINA GRIMKÉ (WELD) (1805–1879; United States) 642
From Appeal to the Christian Women of the South
643
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING (1806–1861; England, Italy) 650
From Sonnets from the Portuguese 652
14 [If thou must love me, let it be for nought] 652
43 [How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.] 652
From Aurora Leigh 653
Book 1 [Aurora’s Education]
653
FRANCES DANA GAGE (1808–1880; United States) 680
Tales of Truth, No.1
681
620
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MARGARET FULLER (1810–1850; United States) 685
From Summer on the Lakes 686
Summer on the Lakes 686
To a Friend 686
Chapter 1 [Gateway to the West: Niagara Falls]
A Short Essay on Critics
687
689
From Woman in the Nineteenth Century
Preface 693
[Woman, Present and Future] 694
693
Cultural Coordinates: Niagara Falls
711
ELIZABETH GASKELL (1810–1865; England) 713
The Three Eras of Libbie Marsh
714
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE (1811–1896; United States) 732
From Uncle Tom’s Cabin 734
Chapter 1, In Which the Reader Is Introduced to a Man
of Humanity 734
Chapter 5, Showing the Feelings of Living Property on Changing
Owners 741
Chapter 7, The Mother’s Struggle 747
Chapter 14, Evangeline 756
Chapter 22, “The Grass Withereth—the Flower Fadeth” 762
Chapter 32, Dark Places 767
Chapter 40, The Martyr 774
Cultural Coordinates: The Realism of Stereotypes
779
FRANCES (FANNY) LOCKE OSGOOD (1811–1850; United States) 781
Ellen Learning to Walk
The Little Hand
781
782
He Bade Me Be Happy
Forgive and Forget
A Reply
783
783
783
Cultural Coordinates: The Invention of the Ladies’
Magazine: Godey’s Lady’s Book 785
FANNY FERN (SARA PAYSON WILLIS PARTON) (1811–1872;
787
United States)
Hints to Young Wives
788
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Mrs. Stowe’s Uncle Tom
Shall Women Vote?
xix
789
790
The Working Girls of New York
791
HARRIET JACOBS (1813–1897; United States) 792
From Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl 793
Written by Herself 793
Preface by the Author 794
Introduction by the Editor 794
Chapter 1, Childhood 795
Chapter 2, The New Master and Mistress 797
Chapter 5, The Trials of Girlhood 801
Chapter 10, A Perilous Passage in the Slave Girl’s Life
Chapter 21, The Loophole of Retreat 806
Chapter 41, Free at Last 809
803
Cultural Coordinates: Reward for the Capture
of Harriet Jacobs 814
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON (1815–1902; United States) 816
Declaration of Sentiments
The Solitude of Self
817
818
Cultural Coordinates: The Seneca Falls Convention
CHARLOTTE BRONTË (1816–1855; England) 826
[We wove a web in childhood]
828
Library of Women’s Literature: Jane Eyre (1847)
Cultural Coordinates: Phrenology
EMILY BRONTË (1818–1848; England) 836
A.G.A: To the Bluebell
837
Song [O between distress and pleasure]
Love and Friendship
839
[Shall earth no more inspire thee]
[I do not weep, I would not weep]
To Imagination
840
[No coward soul is mine]
841
839
840
838
834
824
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Women Composers of Hymns, 1840–1899 842
SARAH FLOWER ADAMS (1805–1848; England) 843
Nearer, My God, to Thee
843
JULIA WARD HOWE (1819–1910; United States) 844
Battle Hymn of the Republic
844
ANNE BRONTË (1820–1849; England) 845
The Narrow Way
845
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI (1830–1894; England) 846
In the Bleak Midwinter
846
KATHARINE LEE BATES (1859–1929; United States) 847
O Beautiful for Spacious Skies
847
SUSAN WARNER (1819–1885; United States) 848
From The Wide, Wide World 849
Chapter 1 [Ellen and Her Mother] 849
Chapter 3 [Ellen Goes Shopping] 854
GEORGE ELIOT (1819–1880; England) 862
Silly Novels by Lady Novelists
864
Cultural Coordinates: Spirit Rappers and
Spiritualism 881
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE (1820–1910; England) 883
From Cassandra 885
Part 2 [Intellect] 885
Part 4 [Moral Activity and Marriage]
Part 7 [The Dying Woman] 892
889
MARY BOYKIN CHESNUT (1823–1886; United States) 892
From Civil War Journal 893
February 18, 1861 [I wanted them to fight and stop talking] 893
February 19, 1861 [We have to meet tremendous odds] 895
HARRIET E. WILSON (1825?–1900?; United States) 897
From Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black
Preface 898
Chapter 1, Mag Smith, My Mother 899
Chapter 2, My Father’s Death 902
Chapter 3, A New Home for Me 905
898
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CATHERINE HELEN SPENCE (1825–1910; Scotland, Australia) 910
From Clara Morison 911
Chapter 8, At Service 911
FRANCES E. W. HARPER (1825–1911; United States) 914
Eliza Harris
915
The Slave Mother
The Two Offers
917
918
Aunt Chloe’s Politics
925
Woman’s Political Future
925
DINAH MULOCK CRAIK (1826–1887; England) 928
From A Woman’s Thoughts about Women
Chapter 1, Something to Do 929
929
HELEN HUNT JACKSON (1830–1885; United States) 935
My Tenants
September
935
936
The Victory of Patience
Chance
937
938
EMILY DICKINSON (1830–1886; United States) 938
6 [Frequently the woods are pink]
939
14 [One sister have I in our house]
940
216 [Safe in their Alabaster Chambers]
241 [I like a look of Agony]
941
249 [Wild Nights—Wild Nights!]
252 [I can wade Grief]
940
941
941
258 [There’s a certain Slant of light]
942
280 [I felt a Funeral, in my Brain]
942
288 [I’m Nobody! Who are you?]
943
341 [After great pain, a formal feeling comes]
943
365 [Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat?]
943
441 [This is my letter to the World]
444 [It feels a shame to be Alive]
944
944
579 [I had been hungry, all the Years]
944
656 [The name—of it—is “Autumn”]
945
709 [Publication—is the Auction]
945
754 [My Life has stood—a Loaded Gun]
946
xxi
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812 [A Light exists in Spring]
946
912 [Peace is a fiction of our Faith]
947
986 [A narrow Fellow in the Grass]
947
1101 [Between the form of Life and Life]
1129 [Tell all the Truth but tell it slant]
1263 [There is no Frigate like a Book]
1580 [We shun it ere it comes]
948
948
948
948
Letters
To Susan Gilbert (Dickinson), early June 1852
To T. W. Higginson, 7 June 1862 950
To T. W. Higginson, February 1885 951
949
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI (1830–1894; England) 951
A Birthday
953
A Better Resurrection
Goblin Market
953
954
In an Artist’s Studio
966
REBECCA HARDING DAVIS (1831–1910; United States) 966
Life in the Iron-Mills
967
ANNA LEONOWENS (1831–1914; England, Colonial: India, Singapore, Thailand,
United States, and Canada) 992
From The Romance of the Harem 993
Chapter 2, Tuptim: A Tragedy of the Harem
993
LOUISA MAY ALCOTT (1832–1888; United States) 999
A Double Tragedy: An Actor’s Story
1000
Library of Women’s Literature: Little Women (1868)
HANNAH CRAFTS (Active 1850s, United States) 1013
From The Bondwoman’s Narrative
Preface 1014
Chapter 1, In Childhood 1014
1014
ISABELLA BEETON (1836–1865; England) 1021
From Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management
[Sample Recipes] 1022
Lark Pie (An Entrée) 1022
Boiled Asparagus 1023
Christmas Plum-Pudding 1023
[Sample Bills of Fare] 1024
Plain Family Dinners for January 1024
1022
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[Sample Sections from “Household Management”]
Duties of the Valet 1025
The Wet-Nurse 1027
xxiii
1025
Cultural Coordinates: Level Measures
1031
SARAH WINNEMUCCA HOPKINS (c. 1844–1891; Paiute: United States) 1033
From Life among the Piutes 1033
Chapter 1, First Meeting of Piutes and Whites
1033
EMMA LAZARUS (1849–1887; United States) 1035
In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport
1492
1036
1038
The New Colossus
1038
Cultural Coordinates: The Sewing Machine
1039
SARAH ORNE JEWETT (1849–1909; United States) 1041
A White Heron
1042
KATE CHOPIN (1850–1904; United States) 1048
The Awakening
1049
ROSA PRAED (1851–1935; Australia) 1135
From Policy and Passion 1137
An Australian Explorer 1137
MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN (1852–1930; United States) 1142
A Poetess
1143
PANDITA RAMABAI SARASWATI (1858–1922; India) 1152
From The High Caste Hindu Woman
Chapter 5 [Suttee] 1154
1154
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN (1860–1935; United States) 1157
The Yellow Wallpaper
1158
Cultural Coordinates: Nervousness and the
Rest Cure 1170
MARY KINGSLEY (1862–1900; England) 1172
From Travels in West Africa 1173
[A West African River and a Canoe]
1173
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The Twentieth and Twenty–first Centuries
1181
The Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries: An Overview 1182
Global Englishes: The Spread of English in the Twentieth and Twenty-first
Centuries 1185
Women’s Place in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries: Women in
Movement 1187
Women’s Writing, 1900 to the Present: The Shape and Limitations of Modernism and
Postmodernism 1193
Timeline 1199
ANNIE BESANT (1847–1933; England, India) 1212
From A Nation’s Rights 1213
[The Foundation of Rights] 1213
Cultural Coordinates: A History of the Bra
1216
EDITH WHARTON (1862–1937; United States, France) 1218
Library of Women’s Literature: House of Mirth (1905)
Roman Fever
1219
EDITH MAUD EATON (SUI SIN FAR) (1865–1914; England, United States,
Canada) 1218
In the Land of the Free
1229
Cultural Coordinates: Chinese American Women and
Immigration 1236
CORNELIA SORABJI (1866–1954; India, England) 1238
From India Calling 1239
Chapter 2, Preparation and Equipment: In India and England
1239
KATHERINE MAYO (1867–1940; United States) 1250
From Mother India 1251
Chapter 8, Mother India
1251
Cultural Coordinates: The Memsahib
ELLEN GLASGOW (1873–1945; United States) 1258
Jordan’s End
1259
WILLA CATHER (1873–1947; United States) 1269
A Wagner Matinee
1270
1256
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xxv
GERTRUDE STEIN (1874–1946; United States, France) 1275
Ada
1276
Preciosilla
1278
Susie Asado
1278
From Patriarchal Poetry 1279
[Their Origin and Their History]
1279
Cultural Coordinates: Two Women Writers in Paris,
Never Meeting 1285
ALICE DUNBAR-NELSON (1875–1935; United States) 1287
Sister Josepha
I Sit and Sew
1288
1292
SUSAN GLASPELL (1876–1948; United States) 1292
Trifles
1293
ZITKALA SA (GERTRUDE SIMMONS BONNIN) (1876–1938; Sioux:
United States) 1303
From School Days of an Indian Girl 1305
The Cutting of My Long Hair 1305
Why I Am a Pagan
1306
Cultural Coordinates: Indian Boarding Schools
1309
MARGARET COUSINS (1878–1954; Ireland, India) 1311
From The Awakening of Asian Womanhood
1311
Chapter 2, Indian Womanhood: A National Asset
1311
SAROJINI NAIDU (1879–1949; India) 1313
The Gift of India
The Indian Gypsy
Bangle-Sellers
1314
1315
1315
ROKEYA SAKHAWAT HOSSAIN (1880–1932; Bangladesh, India) 1316
Sultana’s Dream
1317
Cultural Coordinates: Purdah
1325
MOURNING DOVE (HUMISHUMA/CHRISTINE QUINTASKET)
(1882?–1936; Colville-Okanaga: United States) 1327
From Cogwea, the Half-Blood 1327
[The Indian Dancers] 1327
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VIRGINIA WOOLF (1882–1941; England) 1330
Kew Gardens
1332
Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street
1336
Library of Women’s Literature: Mrs. Dalloway (1925)
From A Room of One’s Own 1342
[Shakespeare’s Sister] 1342
[Peroration: Women Write!] 1346
A Haunted House
1350
ANZIA YEZIERSKA (c. 1885–1970; Poland, United States) 1351
Soap and Water
1352
Cultural Coordinates: Sweatshops
1357
ISAK DINESEN (KAREN BLIXEN) (1885–1962; Denmark, Kenya) 1359
The Blank Page
1360
H.D. (HILDA DOOLITTLE) (1886–1961; United States, England, Switzerland) 1363
From The Walls Do Not Fall 1364
9 [Thoth, Hermes, the stylus] 1364
10 [But we fight for life] 1365
From Tribute to the Angels 1365
8 [Now polish the crucible] 1365
9 [Bitter, bitter jewel] 1366
11 [O swiftly, re-light the flame] 1366
12 [Swiftly re-light the flame] 1367
13 [“What is the jewel colour?”] 1367
19 [We see her visible and actual] 1368
20 [Invisible, indivisible Spirit] 1368
21 [There is no rune nor riddle] 1368
23 [We are part of it] 1369
28 [I had been thinking of Gabriel] 1369
35 [So she must have been pleased with us] 1370
36 [Ah (you say), this is Holy wisdom] 1370
39 [But nearer than Guardian Angel] 1371
From The Flowering of the Rod 1371
5 [Satisfied, unsatisfied] 1371
6 [So I would rather drown, remembering]
1372
MARIANNE MOORE (1887–1972; United States) 1373
The Fish
1374
The Paper Nautilus
In Distrust of Merits
1375
1376
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xxvii
WILLA MUIR (1890–1970; Scotland) 1378
From Imagined Corners 1379
Chapter 3 [Elizabeth Ramsay and Elizabeth Shand]
1379
JEAN RHYS (1890–1979; Dominica, France, England) 1382
Library of Women’s Literature: Wide Sargasso Sea (1966)
From Smile, Please 1384
My Mother 1384
Black/White 1386
Carnival 1389
KATHERINE ANNE PORTER (1890–1980; United States) 1389
Virgin Violeta
1390
African American Women’s Blues
1397
GERTRUDE “MA” RAINEY (1886–1939; United States) 1398
Louisiana Hoodoo Blues
Prove It on Me Blues
1399
1399
ALBERTA HUNTER (1895–1984; United States) 1400
I Got Myself a Workin’ Man
1400
You Gotta Reap What You Sow
1401
BESSIE SMITH (1898?–1937; United States) 1402
Preachin’ the Blues
Poor Man’s Blues
1402
1403
Cultural Coordinates: A Blues Life—Billie Holiday 1404
ZORA NEALE HURSTON (1891–1960; United States) 1405
Sweat
1406
NELLA LARSEN (1891–1964; United States) 1414
Sanctuary
1415
Cultural Coordinates: Anti-Lynching Campaigns
EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY (1892–1950; United States) 1421
[I, being born a woman and distressed]
1421
From Sonnets from an Ungrafted Tree 1422
1 [So she came back into his house again] 1422
10 [She had forgotten how the August night] 1422
Justice Denied in Massachusetts
1423
1419
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From Fatal Interview 1424
20 [Think not, nor for a moment let your mind] 1424
26 [Women have loved before as I love now] 1424
DJUNA BARNES (1892–1982; United States) 1424
Mother
1425
DOROTHY PARKER (1893–1967; United States) 1428
Lady with a Lamp
1429
Cultural Coordinates: Margaret Sanger, Abortion, and
Birth Control 1435
MERIDEL LESUEUR (1900–1996; United States) 1437
Rite of Ancient Ripening
1437
EUDORA WELTY (1909–2001; United States) 1439
A Still Moment
1441
TILLIE OLSEN (1912–2007; United States) 1449
Silences
1450
ATTIA HOSAIN (1913–1998; India) 1461
After the Storm
1462
GWENDOLYN BROOKS (1917–2000; United States) 1464
the mother
1465
a song in the front yard
1466
The Sundays of Satin-Legs Smith
1466
the white troops had their orders but the Negroes looked
like men 1470
The Lovers of the Poor
1470
LOUISE BENNETT COVERLEY (1919–2006; Jamaica, Canada) 1473
Home Sickness
America
1473
1474
DORIS LESSING (1919–
A Sunrise on the Veld
; Colonial: Iran, Zimbabwe, England)
1476
HISAYE YAMAMOTO (1921–
Seventeen Syllables
; United States)
1481
1482
NADINE GORDIMER (1923–
Town and Country Lovers
; South Africa)
1492
1491
1475
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DENISE LEVERTOV (1923–1997; England, United States) 1504
Advent 1966
Tenebrae
Witness
1504
1505
1506
MITSUYE YAMADA (1923–
P.O.W.
1506
; Japan, United States)
1507
Cincinnati
1508
Another Model
1509
Mirror Mirror
1509
BERYL GILROY (1924–2001; Guyana, England) 1510
From Black Teacher 1510
[Inside London Schools] 1510
ANNE RANASINGHE (1925–
Auschwitz from Colombo
; Germany, England, Sri Lanka)
1517
NAYANTARA SAHGAL (1927–
1518
; India)
From Prison and Chocolate Cake
[Walking with Gandhi] 1519
MAYA ANGELOU (1928–
1519
; United States)
1529
From I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
[Words] 1530
1530
MARJORIE OLUDHE MACGOYE (1928–
From Coming to Birth 1536
Chapter 1 [Lost in the City]
; England, Kenya)
1536
ANNE SEXTON (1928–1974; United States) 1544
Little Girl, My Stringbean, My Lovely Woman
Sylvia’s Death
The Ballad of the Lonely Masturbator
The Shawl
1546
1548
CYNTHIA OZICK (1928–
1550
; United States)
1551
; United States)
1555
1552
URSULA LE GUIN (1929–
The Space Crone
1556
ADRIENNE RICH (1929–
Diving into the Wreck
1516
; United States)
1558
1560
Vesuvius at Home: The Power of Emily Dickinson
1562
1536
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“It Is the Lesbian in Us . . .”
1581
A Woman Dead in Her Forties
1583
From Twenty-one Love Poems 1587
1 [Wherever in this city, screens flicker]
11 [Every peak is a crater] 1587
1587
LORRAINE HANSBERRY (1930–1965; United States) 1589
Library of Women’s Literature: A Raisin in the Sun (1959)
GRACE OGOT (1930–
Elizabeth
; Kenya)
1589
1590
TONI MORRISON (1931–
Recitatif
; United States)
1598
1599
Library of Women’s Literature: Beloved (1987)
Nobel Lecture (December 7, 1993)
ALICE MUNRO (1931–
1617
; Canada)
Dance of the Happy Shades
1612
1618
SYLVIA PLATH (1932–1963; United States, England) 1625
Metaphors
1626
Three Women: A Poem for Three Voices
Daddy
Ariel
1627
1636
1638
Lady Lazarus
1639
Cultural Coordinates: The Pill
1642
AUDRE LORDE (1934–1992; United States) 1644
Black Mother Woman
The Woman Thing
1645
1645
How I Became a Poet
1646
CAROL SHIELDS (1935–2003; Canada) 1648
Dying for Love
1649
YASMINE GOONERATNE (1935–
The Peace Game
; Sri Lanka, Australia)
1654
1654
JOY KOGAWA (1935–
; Canada)
1655
From Obasan 1656
Chapter 4 [How Naomi’s Parents Got Married]
1656
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LUCILLE CLIFTON (1936–
Admonitions
; United States)
1659
1660
[being property once myself]
1660
[at last we killed the roaches]
1661
homage to my hips
wishes for sons
1661
1661
poem to my uterus
1662
MARGE PIERCY (1936–
; United States)
To Have Without Holding
1662
1663
My Mother Gives Me Her Recipe
1664
Photograph of My Mother Sitting on the Steps
The First Time I Tasted You
1665
1666
BESSIE HEAD (1937–1986; South Africa, Botswana) 1666
Looking for a Rain God
ANITA DESAI (1937–
1667
; India)
1669
From Fasting, Feasting 1670
Chapter 6 [Anamika] 1670
DIANE WAKOSKI (1937–
Blue Monday
; United States)
1674
Overweight Poem
1676
Hummingbird Light
1677
JOYCE CAROL OATES (1938–
Nairobi
1674
; United States)
1678
; Pakistan, United States)
1684
1679
BAPSI SIDHWA (1938–
From Cracking India 1685
Ranna’s Story 1685
Library of Women’s Literature: Cracking India (1991)
Cultural Coordinates: Partitioning Women
TONI CADE BAMBARA (1939–1995; United States) 1695
Ice
1696
PAULA GUNN ALLEN (1939–
Where I Come from Is Like This
; Laguna: United States)
1701
1700
1694
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MARGARET ATWOOD (1939–
First Neighbours
The Wereman
1707
; Canada)
1708
1709
1837 War in Retrospect
The Double Voice
1710
1710
Murder in the Dark
1711
Library of Women’s Literature: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)
MAXINE HONG KINGSTON (1940–
No Name Woman
1712
1713
BHARATI MUKHERJEE (1940–
A Wife’s Story
; United States)
; India, Canada, United States)
1721
1722
OLIVE SENIOR (1941–
Tears of the Sea
; Jamaica, Canada)
1732
1733
GLORIA ANZALDÚA (1942–2004; United States) 1737
Linguistic Terrorism
1738
From La conciencia de la mestiza / Towards a New Consciousness
[A Tolerance for Ambiguity] 1740
Cihuatlyotl, Woman Alone
1742
To live in the Borderlands means you
Canción de la diosa de la noche
AMA ATA AIDOO (1942–
No Sweetness Here
PAT MORA (1942–
Border Town: 1938
Agua negra
La Migra
1740
1743
1744
; Ghana)
1747
1748
; United States)
1759
1760
1760
1762
NANCY MAIRS (1943–
From Body in Trouble
[My Body] 1764
; United States)
1763
1764
Cultural Coordinates: Women Writers and Disability
PAT PARKER (1944–1989; United States) 1773
For the white person who wants to know how to be my friend
1773
1771
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EAVAN BOLAND (1944–
Athene’s Song
Menses
1774
; Ireland)
1775
1775
Anorexic
Envoi
xxxiii
1777
1778
BUCHI EMECHETA (1944–
; Nigeria)
1779
Library of Women’s Literature: Second Class Citizen (1974)
This New Thing
1780
Cultural Coordinates: Cutting Women
MERLE HODGE (1944–
; Trinidad, Grenada)
1785
1786
From Crick Crack, Monkey 1786
[Aunt Tantie’s Visit] 1786
ALICE WALKER (1944–
Everyday Use
; United States)
1790
MICHELLE CLIFF (1946–
A Hanged Man
; Jamaica, United States)
Not the End of the Story
; United States)
1802
1803
1803
LORNA GOODISON (1947–
On Houses
1796
1797
MINNIE BRUCE PRATT (1946–
Sharp Glass
1789
; Jamaica, United States)
1804
1805
I Am Becoming My Mother
On Becoming a Tiger
1806
1806
Cultural Coordinates: Sistren Theatre Collective
LINDA HOGAN (1947–
Song for My Name
1809
The Grandmother Songs
Sickness
; Chickasaw: United States)
1810
1811
KERI HULME (1947–
; New Zealand: Maori)
The Knife and the Stone
1813
DENISE CHAVEZ (1948–
; United States)
Evening in Paris
1820
1812
1819
1809
1808
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NTOZAKE SHANGE (1948–
Five
Page xxxiv
; United States)
1824
1825
LESLIE MARMON SILKO (1948–
1827
; Laguna: United States)
From Ceremony 1828
[Night Swan] 1828
[Long time ago] 1832
ZOE WICOMB (1948–
; South Africa, Scotland)
When the Train Comes
1836
1837
Library of Women’s Literature: Playing in the Light (2007)
Cultural Coordinates: Women March against
Apartheid 1845
DOROTHY ALLISON (1949–
A Question of Class
; United States)
1847
1847
JESSICA HAGEDORN (1949–
; Philippines, United States)
Motown/Smokey Robinson
1852
JAMAICA KINCAID (1949–
; Antigua, United States)
A Small Place
1852
1853
1855
Library of Women’s Literature: Lucy (1990)
JULIA ALVAREZ (1950–
1860
; Dominican Republic, United States)
I Want to Be Miss América
1861
Cultural Coordinates: Miss America
MERLE COLLINS (1950–
; Grenada, United States)
Visiting Yorkshire—Again
1868
1869
When Britain Had Its GREAT
GRACE NICHOLS (1950–
1870
; Guyana, England)
Skanking Englishman between Trains
1871
The Fat Black Woman Goes Shopping
1872
1870
Two Old Black Men on a Leicester Square Park Bench
AHDAF SOUEIF (1950–
Returning
; Egypt, England)
1873
1873
1874
MEENA ALEXANDER (1951–
Grandmother’s Mirror
1866
1883
; India, United States)
1882
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No Man’s Land
1886
JOY HARJO (1951–
; Muscogee (Creek): United States)
A Postcolonial Tale
1888
We Must Call a Meeting
Strange Fruit
1889
1889
The Bloodletting
1890
Day of the Dead
1891
The Book of Myths
1892
BELL HOOKS (1952–
; United States)
Homeplace: A Site of Resistance
CHERRÍE MORAGA (1952–
Loving on the Run
AMY TAN (1952–
1893
1894
; United States)
1899
1900
Loving in the War Years
1902
1904
; United States)
From The Joy Luck Club
Scar 1905
ABENA BUSIA (1953–
Freedom Rides Quiz
Altar Call
1887
1905
; Ghana, United States)
1909
1909
1910
SARA SULERI (1953–
; Pakistan, United States)
From Meatless Days 1912
Excellent Things in Women
SANDRA CISNEROS (1954–
1911
1912
; United States)
1923
Library of Women’s Literature: The House on Mango Street (1983)
My Tocaya
1923
La Fabulosa: A Texas Operetta
1926
Cultural Coordinates: The Virgin of Guadalupe and
Feminist Reclaimings 1928
LOUISE ERDRICH (1954–
Saint Marie
; Ojibwe: United States)
1931
HELENA MARIA VIRAMONTES (1954–
The Moths
1930
1940
; United States)
1940
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MARILYN MEI LING CHIN (1955–
How I Got That Name
The Survivor
Beijing Spring
; China, United States)
1944
1945
1947
1947
BARBARA KINGSOLVER (1955–
From The Poisonwood Bible
Ruth May 1949
ALISON BECHDEL (1960–
; United States)
1949
; United States)
From Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Chapter 2, A Happy Death 1954
JHUMPA LAHIRI (1967–
1948
1952
1954
; England, United States)
When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine
1983
1984
Library of Women’s Literature: The Namesake (2003)
ZADIE SMITH (1975–
; England)
1994
From White Teeth 1995
Chapter 1, The Peculiar Second Marriage of Archie Jones
Acknowledgments
Index
2015
2009
1995