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| The Banshees: A Literary History of Irish American Women Writers
ISBN: 9780815652403
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / Syracuse University Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Sociology ; Language & Literature;
Although much has been written about American feminism and its influence on culture and society, very little has been recorded about the key role played by Irish American women writers in exposing women's issues, protecting their rights, and anticipating, if not effecting, change. Like the mythical Irish banshee who delivered fore-warnings of imminent death, Irish American women, through their writing, have repeatedly warned of the death of women's rights. These messages carried the greatest potency at liminal times when feminism was under attack due to the politics of civil society, the government, or the church.
The Banshees traces the feminist contributions of a wide range of Irish American women writers, from Mother Jones, Kate Chopin, and Margaret Mitchell to contemporary authors such as Gillian Flynn, Jennifer Egan, and Doris Kearns Goodwin. To illustrate the growth and significance of their writing, the book is organized chronologically by decade. Each chapter details the progress and setbacks of Irish American women during that period by revealing key themes in their novels and memoirs contextualized within a discussion of contemporary feminism, Catholicism, Irish American history, American politics, and society. The Banshees examines these writers' roles in protecting women's sovereignty, rights, and reputations. Thanks to their efforts, feminism is revealed as a fundamental element of Irish American literary history.
Sally Barr Ebest is professor of English and director of the Gender Studies Program at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She is the coeditor of Reconciling Catholicism and Feminism? Personal Reflections on Tradition and Change and Too Smart to Be Sentimental: Contemporary Irish American Women Writers. |
