Women Who Write [Hardcover]

Stefan Bollman (Author), Francine Prose (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1858943752 | ISBN-13: 978-1858943756 | Publication Date: March 1, 2007 | Edition: English-language Ed

From the author of the bestselling "Reading Women" comes "Women Who Write", a celebration of female literary achievement. Literature has traditionally been a male-dominated field. In the past it was common for women authors to adopt a male pseudonym in order to be taken seriously, and they were often forced to make a choice between writing and leading a conventional family life. This beautifully produced book brings together a compelling collection of paintings, drawings, prints and photographs of women writers through the ages, from Mary Wollstonecraft, George Sand and Jane Austen to Dorothy Parker, Simone de Beauvoir and Toni Morrison. Engaging commentaries present brief biographies of the writers depicted, discussing the highlights of their careers and the major themes of their work. An incisive introduction explores the history of women authors, examining the challenges they have faced in pursuit of their craft. "Women Who Write" features a diverse range of women writers from the Middle Ages to the present and is stunningly illustrated throughout, including beautiful reproductions of original manuscript pages.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In Reading Women (2006), Bollmann created a resplendent exhibit-on-paper of artistic portraits of women transfixed by books. An equally magnetic mix of pictures and commentary pays tribute to diverse women writers, past and present. In her smart and forthright foreword, Francine Prose praises the writers recognized here for their courage in confronting misogyny as much as for their literary talent. And what an inspiring and intriguing group Bollmann has gathered. Following a thoughtful and substantial introduction rich in observations regarding the changing status of women writers over the past 250 years, and the role the novel played in women's liberation, a series of succinct yet revealing biographical essays unfolds, each accompanied by a painting or photograph of the writer. All the usual suspects are here (Austen, Sand, the Brontës, Woolf, Plath) as well as less commonly known or remembered writers. The stellar list includes Johanna Spyri, creator of Heidi; Selma Lagerlof, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1909; Marguerite Duras; the recently rediscovered Irene Nemirovsky; Toni Morrison; Isabel Allende; and Arundhati Roy. Seaman, Donna

About the Author

Stefan Bollmann is a writer and editor, and the author of several books, including the bestselling Reading Women, published by Merrell in 2006.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 152 pages
• Publisher: Merrell Publishers; English-language Ed edition (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1858943752
• ISBN-13: 978-1858943756
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,326,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars full of beautiful photos, drawings and images of women writers, August 22, 2007

By 

Elevate Difference "Elevate Difference" (worldwide) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women Who Write (Hardcover)

At first glance, Women Who Write appears to be a gorgeous coffee table book full of beautiful photos, drawings and images of women writers. However, if you begin with the compelling, thought-provoking foreward by Francine Prose, and work your way through the book in the chronological order in which it is written, you will discover that Bollmann has compiled a book that is not only beautiful in its presentation, but is intimate in the intricate details that it provides for each writer. It addresses women who have been integral to the international body of writing from the year 1098 to present day writers, and although it includes them, it does not limit its scope to the women who have been indisputable forces in literature - such as Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath - but it also includes women such as Hildegard of Bingen, Rahel Varngagen and Elsa Morante, women who are lesser known, but also indisputably integral to our literary history.

Women Who Write informs us of the major works of each woman and what is essential in either the subject or scope of the literature, but it also includes commentary on these women by other writers and notable figures. Thus it addresses the identities that these women created for themselves, as well as how their work has been perceived by their contemporaries.

In the introduction to the chapter titled "Writing as Resistance: Women of Courage," Bollmann writes, "For one can only win freedom by acting as a free person - and that is always dangerous." The validity of this quote is echoed throughout the text as one realizes that the women whom the book celebrates have persisted with their craft regardless of the restrictions that they faced. This is true for Sophie Scholl, a member of the White Rose resistance group who was arrested and persecuted at the age of twenty-two due to the anti-Nazi sentiments of her writing: "If enough people join together, then with one last mighty effort we can shake off this system."

We are reminded of the courage of these women, who were not content to stay within their prescribed roles. They often wrote with pseudonyms, hid their manuscripts from others and, in a few cases, disguised themselves as men in order to be allowed the privileges and obscurity of men during their lifetime. Of George Eliot, a pseudonym for Mary Ann Evans, Bollmann writes, "a rival who knew her as Marian from her early life later wrote that Eliot had been a woman made by her own hands, who never for a moment forgot the identity that she created for herself." Each of the women in this text created her own identity, an identity that often caused these writers great suffering in their lifetime, but their unwavering commitment to their writing and the brilliance of their words has remained essential to continued work of feminists today.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mary Wollstonecraft, George Sand and even Toni Morrison, July 7, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women Who Write (Hardcover)

Francine Prose's WOMEN WHO WRITE gathers images and profiles of many important women writers from the Middle Ages to modern times. These are some of the major figures in women's literature: Mary Wollstonecraft, George Sand and even Toni Morrison - all of whom created ground-breaking works that affected genres. Biography and literary criticism blend with black and white and color images throughout which range from photos of each author to reproductions of covers and illustrative artwork, making for a fine catalog inviting general-interest attention to a topic more commonly given too much detail and regulated to college-level collections alone.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book - An important addition to women's history, April 8, 2007

By 

Marion E. Gold "Book Author & Editorial Writer" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Women Who Write (Hardcover)

Since Enheduanna, a Sumerian writer and high priestess living circa 2000 bc, authored the first attributed literary effort in history--to Ida B.Wells-Barnett, who wrote about the economic roots of lynchings in the South-- women have played a remarkable role in literature and journalism. This book is a wonderful (make that mandatory!) addition to every library. The use of paintings and photographs provides a personal link between the reader and the "Women Who Write" that I hope will inspire more women to take pen in hand. From journalists, to novelists, to screenwriters...women's voices need to be heard. (Marion Gold is a past-president of the Illinois Women's Press Association, and author of "Top Cops: Profiles of Women in Command" and "Personal Publicity Planner: A Guide to Marketing YOUTop Cops: Profiles of Women in CommandPersonal Publicity Planner: A Guide to Marketing YOU.")