Women, Autobiography, Theory

Women, Autobiography, Theoryis the first comprehensive guide to the burgeoning field of women's autobiography, drawing into one volume the most significant theoretical discussions on women's life writing of the last two decades. The authoritative introduction by Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson surveys writing about women's lives from the women's movement of the late 1960s to the present. It also relates theoretical positions in women's autobiography studies to postmodern, poststructuralist, postcolonial, and feminist analyses. The essays from thirty-nine prominent critics and writers include many considered classics in this field. They explore narratives across the centuries and from around the globe, including testimonios, diaries, memoirs, letters, trauma accounts, prison narratives, coming-out stories, coming-of-age stories, and spiritual autobiographies. A list of more than two hundred women's autobiographies and a comprehensive bibliography of critical scholarship in women's autobiography provide invaluable information for scholars, teachers, and readers.

Sidonie Smith is director of the Women’s Studies Program and professor of English at the University of Michigan. Julia Watson is director of the Comparative Literature Program and associate professor of comparative studies at the Ohio State University. They previously coedited De/Colonizing the Subject: The Politics of Gender in Women’s Autobiography and Getting a Life: Everyday Uses of Autobiography.