'No less striking than the subtlety and learning that distinguish this study is the energy of Schellenberg's prose. This fine new book will establish Schellenberg as a major voice in the field.' Thomas Keymer, University of Oxford

'With admirable brilliance, lucidity, and grace, Schellenberg provides an illuminating corrective to assumptions that a woman writer can be defined as victim rather than as agent, or that gender is prime in determining an author's agency. In a cogent analysis of the works of a number of women authors, she reads their writings into the public sphere. This magisterial work is required reading for students of gender, literature, and history. ' Betty Rizzo, Professor Emerita, The City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Centre