{"product_id":"the-private-self-theory-and-practice-of-womens-biographical-writings","title":"The Private Self: Theory and Practice of Women's Biographical Writings","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis collection of twelve essays discusses the principles and practices of womens autobiographical writing in the United States  England  and France from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Employing feminist and poststructuralist methodologies  the essays examine a wide range of private life writings -- letters  journals  diaries  memoirs  pedagogical texts  and fictional and factual autobiographies. The concepts of theory and practice -- as opposing and mutually exclusive methodologies  as focal points for conflicting interpretations  and finally as complementary approaches to the study of literature -- are central to this collection.  The Private Self explores the links between the historical devaluation of womens writings and the cultural definitions of women that have constrained their writing practices and excluded them from the canon of traditional autobiographical texts. Collectively  these essays expose the cultural biases that derive from notions of selfhood defined by a white  masculine  and Christian experience. In an effort to revise our prevailing concept of autobiography  these essays deal with differences of race  class  religion  sexual orientation  and gender.  Discussed here are writings by more than two dozen women including Jane Austen  Emily Dickinson  Alice James  Virginia Woolf  Charlotte Forten Grimke  Zora Neale Hurston  Maya Angelou  Sophie Kovalevsky  Anais Nin  Hilda Doolittle  and Simone de Beauvoir. The work of these writers reveals a split between public and private self-representations  and it is the notion of a private self expressed through womens autobiographical writings that forms the link among all the essays.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44983978590261,"sku":"ByrdShop_0807842184","price":38.41,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780807842188.jpg?v=1770817348","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-private-self-theory-and-practice-of-womens-biographical-writings","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}