Reinventing Womanhood [Paperback]

Carolyn G. Heilbrun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 1993

Carolyn Heilbrun's important investigation into issues of identity for twentieth-century American women: the problem with past role models, ways to construct new ones.

"Men have monopolized human experience, leaving women unable to imagine themselves as both ambitious and female. If I imagine myself (woman has always asked) whole, active, a self, will I not cease, in some profound way, to be a woman? The answer must be: imagine, and the old idea of womanhood be damned. . . . Let us imagine ourselves as selves, as at once striving and female. Womanhood can be what we say it is, not what they have always told us it was."

Editorial Reviews

Review

Occasionally a book comes along that forces one to re-examine a familiar issue from a fresh perspective. . . . Carolyn Heilbrun's Reinventing Womanhood is that rare book. . . . Passionate and trenchant in its observations and recommendations, it is essential reading for anyone interested not only in the future of womanhood but in the stimulating possibilities for liberation of both sexes. (Chicago Tribune )

About the Author

Carolyn G. Heilbrun (1926–2003) was a professor of English at Columbia University. A force in literary and feminist theory, she also wrote mysteries under the pen name Amanda Cross.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (September 17, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393310760
• ISBN-13: 978-0393310764
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,257,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sham-alert, March 10, 2009

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Heartland G (Kansas, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Reinventing Womanhood (Paperback)

I didn't really like this book, I was expecting good things as per the title, but I was tricked. It seemed like there was a lot of negative and stereotypical statements woven throughout the so-called "reinventing." It also was so convoluted it made no sense. I've experienced lately how conservatives have been disguising their agenda by masquerading as feminists and discrediting us by inserting propaganda into pretend feminist writings. I've experienced this first hand strangely enough (I can't imagine the time spent on this! It seems so ridiculous to do it, I would've never imagined anyone would) So... I've been watching out for it in the books I've been reading lately I mean, Heilbrun. Come on. heil hitler! It would be great to see an honorable, woman-friendly publisher you could trust who you wouldn't have to investigate with a microscope to see if you're being had. We're spending money on this crap. You know, powerful people control our information and when trickery replaces truth and honest opinion is sacrificed for some propaganda war public discourse becomes a useless sham. It becomes a cruel and silly sludge really quickly. I may write a book sometime on reinventing womanhood, and at the top of the list will be to wise up and not be very trusting unfortunately. Another unfortunate truth I've learned is you can't be kind to everyone and open to every idea. You can't try _everything_. You have to choose carefully sometimes. Feminists are so eager to be "inclusive" that we sometimes let just anything into our circles. I think being inclusive is good, but also be careful.