Women and Romance: A Reader [Paperback]

Susan Weisser (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2001 | ISBN-10: 081479355X | ISBN-13: 978-0814793558

Romantic love has challenged and vexed feminist thought from its origins. Judging from the shelves of books advising women on love problems, there seems to be an ongoing difficulty in maintaining equality in romantic relationships. Does romance weaken or empower women? Why do women seem overwhelmingly attracted to romantic love in spite of raised consciousness in other areas of life that is a legacy of feminism? Have women always been seen as the sex which most seeks love and is best suited for love?

These are some of the questions Women and Romance: A Reader seeks to address in bringing together a collection of texts specifically focused on the subject of women's conflicted but powerful urge to experience the pleasure and endure the pain of romantic love. The first anthology of its kind, Women and Romance includes historical as well as contemporary selections, personal letters as well as theoretical essays, and social science perspectives as well as literary criticism of the novel and the popular mass-market romance. Wiesser lays out in systematic order for the first time the varying viewpoints and conflicted history of feminist views on romance, from Mary Wollstonecraft and Emma Goldman to Germaine Greer and Lillian Faderman.

Introductions to each entry and section clarify the emerging themes of each era and of separate disciplines, while representing the views of traditionalists and anti-romance second-wave feminists alike.

Contributors include: Charlotte Bronte, Barbara Bross, Eliza Southgate Bowne, Rita Mae Brown, Andreas Capellanus, Patricia Hill Collins, Simone de Beauvoir, Christine Delphy, Emily Dickinson, George Eliot, Lillian Faderman, Shulamith Firestone, Moderata Fonte, Mary Gaitskill, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Emma Goldman, Vivian Gornick, Germaine Greer, Lynne Harne, bell hooks, Karen Horney, Carolyn Heilbrun, Audre Lorde, Tania Modleski, Gloria Naylor, Mary Poovey, Janice Radway, William Robinson, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jane Rule, Barbara Ryan, Ann Snitow, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Gloria Steinem, Mary Wollstonecraft, Victoria Woodhull, Virginia Woolf.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Does romance weaken or empower women? Is it a debilitating illusion, a form of false consciousness, or the understandable expression of a universal human need?" asks Susan Ostrov Weisser (A "Craving Vacancy": Women and Sexual Love in the British Novel, 1740-1880), editor of Women and Romance: A Reader. Mary Wollstonecraft, Emma Goldman, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emily Dickinson, Simone de Beauvoir, Rita Mae Brown, Audre Lorde, Lillian Faderman, bell hooks and Mary Gaitskill are just a few of the eminent thinkers Weisser recruits here. "The Reconstruction of Teen Romance" (Sharon Thompson), "Silly Novels by Lady Novelists" (George Eliot) and "Women's Masochism and Ideal Love" (Jessica Benjamin) are among the topics addressed in this thoughtfully assembled and far-reaching anthology.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Susan Ostrov Weisser is Professor of English at Adelphi University and Academic Director of the Bard College Clemente Program in the Humanities in Harlem, New York City. She is co-editor of Feminist Nightmares: Women at Odds and author of A Craving Vacancy: Women and Sexual Love in the British Novel, 1740-1880, also available from NYU Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 492 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (July 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081479355X
• ISBN-13: 978-0814793558
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #972,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Are Women More Prone to Romance?, September 20, 2001

By 

Molly Reuben (Florida & New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women and Romance: A Reader (Paperback)

You would think, from the A Reader part of the books title,
that this is just another esoteric textbook edited by a professor who
is a foremost authority in her particular niche. But the Lichtenstein
cartoon cover of the book is an immediate clue that the contents
within these covers also has a much more popular appeal. Although
there occasionally may be some jargon excerpted from literary
specialty journals, there is very much here that the average
intelligent reader will appreciate and enjoy.

The book deals
historically, psychologically, sociologically and philosophically with
the time-honored controversial concept that romance is associated
primarily with the female gender. In the book, this quote from Byron
beautifully defines the theme:

Mans love is of mans life a
thing apart,
Tis womans whole existence.

The editor,
Susan Ostrov-Weisser, does a superb job in organizing all the facets
of this relationship , beginning with a section on its historical
evolution. The book is actually a compilation of excerpts from
reknowned and obscure literary and non-literary works, including
novels, literary magazines and journals, Harlequin and other
romance novels, personal letters, love magazines,
love comics, Hollywood movies and even popular song
lyrics. Through these vehicles, the topic of Romance is thoroughly
explored with a wide-ranging variety of compelling aspects including
(but far from being limited to) Feminism, Extra-marital Affairs and
African-American Relationships. There are so many jewels in this
showcase of articles, it is impossible to choose just a few
favorites.

I especially appreciated Prof. Ostrov-Weissers
trenchant, incisive paragraphs preceding each entry, illuminating and
clarifying its significance and place in the greater scheme, and
sometimes even gratuitously adding some gossipy
information. Also, the way this publication is organized and
structured conveniently enables the reader to skip around from one
place or subject to another, without having to read straightforwardly
from cover-to-cover, and still derive great satisfaction from a
fascinating subject. In the Anthology category of publications, I
enthusiastically award this collection five stars.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING!, March 7, 2009

By 

Girl Germs "m!" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women and Romance: A Reader (Paperback)

A rad read! I loved this book! It's so much fun to read and has great information! <3