French Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Source Book

(Hardback)

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Description

This reference work aims to acquaint the reader with the lives and works of the most important women writers in the history of French literature. 51 essays cover individual writers with an emphasis on their experiences as writers, a discussion of their major themes, and brief surveys of critical reactions. Each essay is followed by a bibliography of primary works, a list of titles, translated into English, and a selection of critical studies. An additional essay describes the trobairitz, the women troubadours of the 12th and 13th centuries. The volume ends with a chronology featuring the dates of events and trends of special significance to French women.

Reviews

Intended for general readers, students, and scholars, this volume should be in any collection of French literature.-ARBA
This well-edited and well-written biographical dictionary provides excellent introductory information on the 52 French women writers selected for inclusion--some well-known, some, as the editors admit, 'unknown even to the specialist.' The major criterion for inclusion was a substantial body of published work. Readers may question whether this was consistently applied (Elsa Triolet, for example, was not included), but most names one would expect to find are there. Editorial principles are clearly stated in a brief preface, and an introduction surveys the position of women in French literary life from the 12th century to the current period. The signed articles that follow are each approximately ten pages long, and all follow the same format: a biography, a discussion of major themes, a survey of criticism, and a bibliography of primary works, English translations, and selected critical studies. An effort has been made to provide more extensive bibliographical information for the lesser-known authors. Since the articles appear in alphabetical order by biographee, the chronology and list of authors by date of birth at the end of the volume are helpful. Title and subject indexes are also included. Although many of these authors will be discussed in volumes of the ongoing "Dictionary of Literary Biography" series there is nothing else like this compilation currently available. Highly recommended at all academic levels.-Choice
"Intended for general readers, students, and scholars, this volume should be in any collection of French literature."-ARBA
"This well-edited and well-written biographical dictionary provides excellent introductory information on the 52 French women writers selected for inclusion--some well-known, some, as the editors admit, 'unknown even to the specialist.' The major criterion for inclusion was a substantial body of published work. Readers may question whether this was consistently applied (Elsa Triolet, for example, was not included), but most names one would expect to find are there. Editorial principles are clearly stated in a brief preface, and an introduction surveys the position of women in French literary life from the 12th century to the current period. The signed articles that follow are each approximately ten pages long, and all follow the same format: a biography, a discussion of major themes, a survey of criticism, and a bibliography of primary works, English translations, and selected critical studies. An effort has been made to provide more extensive bibliographical information for the lesser-known authors. Since the articles appear in alphabetical order by biographee, the chronology and list of authors by date of birth at the end of the volume are helpful. Title and subject indexes are also included. Although many of these authors will be discussed in volumes of the ongoing "Dictionary of Literary Biography" series there is nothing else like this compilation currently available. Highly recommended at all academic levels."-Choice

Author Bio

EVA MARTIN SARTORI is Associate Professor of Central Reference Services, Love Library, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She co-edited Women's Studies in Western Europe and contributed articles to Allegorica, College and Research Libraries, and Collection Management. DOROTHY WYNNE ZIMMERMAN is Professor Emerita of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She edited George Sand's The Country Waif and May Wynne Lamb's Life in Alaska: The Reminiscences of a Kansas Woman, 1916-1919. Her articles have been published in George Sand Studies and Pacific Historian.