MkR

 

• Studies in Women Writers in English ( Vols. 1- 6 ) . New Delhi : Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 2004-2007. [Jointly with Rama Kundu]

General Preface:

The series is about women writers in English across centuries and spaces; the subject is the major women writers in England and outside, who happen to be women, whom we read and will continue to read, because they fascinate us by raising questions, opening perspectives, challenging, illuminating and explaining life. It seems indeed striking when we consider the fact that so many of the great writers of modern times have been women. Particularly since the eighteenth century, women's contribution to the field of literature has been indispensable. In the subsequent history of literature women have emerged as both central and female.

To set out some of the paremeters of the anthology's goal: it attempts to represent a variety of methodological approaches to literary texts instead of a particular methodology , or focusing on a specific theme. The idea is to attempt as much comprehensiveness as possible. Without being exclusive it attempts to include studies on minority or marginal/subaltern literature as well as "mainstream" subjects, and to represent a broad spectrum of perspectives, by bringing together as many authors and views and areas as possible.

Indeed, "feminism" itself stands for no monolithic, unified or singularly definable concept; rather the multiplicity of approaches and assumptions inside the movement can be stunning as they conflict and compete with each other. The present series will take into account the diversity not only within feminism, but also within women's writings in general. Again, in spite of the multipleness of feminism, a generally shared agreement among feminist critics has been that gender leaves its traces in literary texts and literary history. In the context of the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of literary studies today, newer insights have been harnessed to probe and bring out these unique 'traces' which have enriched women's writings in the past and the present.

We hope the book will provide some sense of the scope , the variety, and the development of women's literature in English in the recent centuries. The boundaries of the book have not been set arbitrarily but by the subject itself, which seems to have been set to cross all previously laid boundaries; while reading the earlier writers anew as women writers, from today's critical perspectives, will also prove to be an exciting experience .

Finally, lest some raise the issue whether segregating some writers from the general course of literary history just on the basis of sex is fair or not, this may be noted that great women writers teach us how everything special to a woman's life-- from its most trivial to its grandest-- can be claimed for literature by writers who possess what Thackeray saw in Charlotte Bronte: "the passionate honour of the woman".

The series is designed for use in courses on "women in literature" and at the same time addressed to many other audiences outside the university classroom , who will find it useful and enjoyable.

Editors. Mohit K.Ray/Rama Kundu