Last year Elaine Showalter published the remarkably substantive literary history of American women writers, “A Jury of Her Peers.” Her subsequent anthology of American women’s writing that follows is clearly the result of the intensive research that informed Showalter’s history. “The Vintage Book of American Women Writers” contains many of the usual suspects, from Anne Bradstreet to Joyce Carol Oates and Amy Tan, but it’s got a depth and breadth that’s been missing before now in canonical anthologies—even if you think you’ve got a handle on important American women writers, odds are you’ll come up against a number of new names and texts of surprising artistry. Showalter has mined American literary history for forgotten talent, and she’s come up with treasures, particularly in the Victorian era, her specialty while a professor at Princeton. Especially helpful are Showalter’s introductory biographical sketches, which focus on the education of each author. That said, there’s some marked unevenness between historical periods; the extensive representation of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature peters out to some extent after mid-century, and only five writers born after 1930 are included. One could probably make similar arguments of under- or over-representation along the lines of race/national origin or genre, as well as point out the entire project’s tendency toward essentializing womanhood that was the bane of second wave feminists. But ultimately these quibbles are part and parcel of attempting to put forth any kind of canon in the contentious literary landscape. What Showalter has produced is the most definitive and serious anthology of women’s writing to date—a profoundly unhip and deeply vital project. (Monica Westin)
“The Vintage Book of American Women Writers” By Elaine Showalter Vintage, $18.95, 848 pages
Last year Elaine Showalter published the remarkably substantive literary history of American women writers, “A Jury of Her Peers.” Her subsequent anthology of American women’s writing that follows is clearly the result of the intensive research that informed Showalter’s history. “The Vintage Book of American Women Writers” contains many of the usual suspects, from Anne Bradstreet to Joyce Carol Oates and Amy Tan, but it’s got a depth and breadth that’s been missing before now in canonical anthologies—even if you think you’ve got a handle on important American women writers, odds are you’ll come up against a number of new names and texts of surprising artistry. Showalter has mined American literary history for forgotten talent, and she’s come up with treasures, particularly in the Victorian era, her specialty while a professor at Princeton. Especially helpful are Showalter’s introductory biographical sketches, which focus on the education of each author. That said, there’s some marked unevenness between historical periods; the extensive representation of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature peters out to some extent after mid-century, and only five writers born after 1930 are included. One could probably make similar arguments of under- or over-representation along the lines of race/national origin or genre, as well as point out the entire project’s tendency toward essentializing womanhood that was the bane of second wave feminists. But ultimately these quibbles are part and parcel of attempting to put forth any kind of canon in the contentious literary landscape. What Showalter has produced is the most definitive and serious anthology of women’s writing to date—a profoundly unhip and deeply vital project. (Monica Westin)
