Women and the Rise of the Novel, 1405-1726

Donovan (English, U. of Maine) traces the significant role women writers played in the manifestation of the novel as a literary form, using examples of the writing traditions of women in the 15th through the 18th centuries--unlike most studies of the origin of the novel which begin with the 18th century. She examines works in Italian, French, and Spanish as well as English, and draws on Mikhail Bakhtin, Iris Murdoch, and contemporary standpoint theory in her analysis. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.