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This 4th volume in the series examines the portrayal of women in film, as well as their involvement in the medium - as filmmakers, screenwriters, actresses, critics and characters. The collection of essays is introduced by an insightful discussion of feminist film theory. ... Read more

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Based on a true story of one woman's strength and determination to survive, and never give up. Never! Deidra, an American born in the deep South, Atlanta, GA., mid twentieth century. A notable Southern Belle, a trait that was passed to her and noticed anywhere she travels. A quite striking lady with a heart of gold and just as tenacious as she is sweet. Why does she attract so much trouble? ... Read more

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A must read!
I highly recommend this book for anyone and everyone who is looking for hope in their life.The author shares her journey with Christ during the hardships and betrayals of life.Time and time again Christ comes to her aid by providing safety, opportunities and a light to show her the way. ... Read more

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City Women and the Ghost Writer is an eclectic book full of human experience from a diverse and interesting culture. This is a selection of differing tales set in the Indian and Nepali culture, and is a mix of life, religion, society and humour, brought alive by rich storytelling from an outspoken and unique viewpoint. Running through it is the tale of an extended family, with its pitfalls, deaths and births. This frank look at Eastern culture is an eye-opener for those with little knowledge of its customs. Interspersed skilfully throughout the book are rants on the media, writing and celebrities, all providing honest viewpoints that inject the book with a certain degree of frustration and cynicism that add to the atmosphere. ... Read more

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Nik Korpan Review
I have to keep reminding myself that I've never been to Nepal or India. I've never trekked through the mountains or eaten curry for a few rupees or bathed in the small river behind my house. Damn you, Krishna Bhatt, for confusing my already easily distracted and malleable mind!

City Women and the Ghost Writer collects observations and idiosyncrasies of Nepalese and Indian culture like an entomologist collects exoskeletons. Like a bug doctor, it examines these cultures with a neutral, sometimes detached, affect, but its fondness for the subject is evident. It floats through six-hut villages, over rivers crisscrossed with cattle, through the alleys of cities packed with village ex-pats scraping for a better life, and occasionally peeks its head up in a foreign country, a smug smile etched across its face.

Krishna Bhatt oscillates between nostalgic spectator, societal psychologist, and purveyor of scathing rants. For most of the book, an assortment of vignettes, (fictional?) short stories and musings, he relays everything with such an evenhanded, unexpressive tone that's so voyeuristic, you almost feel guilty for intruding.



In Desires, a father toils for years in order to start a hotel, hoping to pass the business along to his sons. He begins: `I never thought my son would dump me into this hotel at my age, when I have broken my leg[...] I thought he was expanding the business, when he started building this hotel, but like other works he does, this too he left incomplete.' Which pretty much sets the tone.

In Terminated Abortion, a pregnant woman is given an ultimatum by her family to kill the child or be excommunicated. She's already has too many daughters, and the ultrasound is, well, less than promising. Her husband teeters between his unborn child and the security of her wealthy family. Then the story takes an unexpected turn...

Bhatt mixes rants and musings with the vignettes, to a surprising effect. While the stories remain neutral, there's still a subtle hopefulness there, just barely. Or maybe it depends on your mood while reading. But these other pieces lend such a frustrated tint to the overall book that it causes you to reevaluate your entire perception of the book.

At times, they're humorous, as if he has enough time and/or money to get so worked up over people underlining passages in the Hornsby-esque Underlining Borrorwed Books Overruled! (when only a few pages previous, the couple contemplates abortion.) Other times, he's contemplative, ruminating on the relationship between reader and author. Sometimes he's sarcastic, wondering why English has become the lingua franca, then relaying an incident with a friend who `does not purchase the [English language] newspaper to read, but to put it on the seat of his bike' when it rains. The friend suggests that Bhatt do the same. He becomes outright furious as well, railing against the biased media and fellow countrymen whose concept of success is being able to move to another country.

Bhatt never resorts to yellow journalism. Even when angry and offended, he writes in measured sentences that are more or less objective. It draws the reader into his world and allows them to mix alongside the farmers, the scammers, the prostitutes, Brahmans, entrepreneurs, beggars and vendors. It's the secure voice an accomplished author uses to pull you along, and you never realize he's done it until you're already in the heart of Kathmandu.
Nik Korpan.
[...]
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"The Changing Same" examines defining moments in African American women's fiction and its reception: the "Women's Era" of the 1890s, the Harlem Renaissance, and the "New Black Renaissance" of the 1970s and 1980s. Deborah McDowell maps this history in readings of Emma Dunham Kelley, Frances E. W. Harper, Jessie Fauset, Nella Larsen, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and Sherley Anne Williams. She examines representations of slavery, sexuality, and homoeroticism; the reception of African American women's fiction in the 1980s; and African American feminist writing in the "Age of Theory."

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In Women's Experience of Modernity, 1875–1945, literary scholarsworking with a variety of interdisciplinary methodologies move feminine phenomena from themargins of the study of modernity to its center.Analyzing such cultural practices as selling andshopping, political and social activism, urban field work and rural labor, radical discourses onfeminine sexuality, and literary and artistic experimentation, this volume contributes to the richvein of current feminist scholarship on the "gender of modernism" and challenges the assumptionthat modernism rose naturally or inevitably to the forefront of the cultural landscape at the turn ofthe twentieth century.

During this period, "women's experience" was a rallying cry for feminists, a unifying cause thatallowed women to work together to effect social change and make claims for women's rights interms of their access to the public world--as voters, paid laborers, political activists, and artistscommenting on life in the modern world.Women's experience, however, also proved to be asource of great divisiveness among women, for claims about its universality quickly unraveled toreveal the classism, racism, and Eurocentrism of various feminist activities and organizations.

Complementing recent attempts to historicize literary modernism by providing more thoroughanalyses of its material production, the essays in this volume examine both literary andnon-literary writings of Jane Addams, Djuna Barnes, Toru Dutt, Radclyffe Hall, H.D., PaulineHopkins, Emma Dunham Kelley, Amy Levy, Alice Meynell, Bram Stoker, Ida B. Wells, RebeccaWest, and others as discursive events that shape our conception of the historical real.Instead offocusing exclusively or even centrally on modernism and literature, these essays address a broadarray of textual materials, from political pamphlets to gynecology textbooks, as they investigatewomen's responses to the rise of commodity capitalism, middle-class women's entrance into thelabor force, the welfare state's invasion of the working-class home, and the intensifiederoticization of racial and class differences.

Contributors include:Ann L. Ardis, University of Delaware; Katherine L. Biers; Clair Buck,Wheaton College; Lucy Burke, University of Manchester; Carolyn Burdett, University of NorthLondon; James Davis, Nassau Community College; Rita Felski, University of Virginia; DeborahGarfield, UCLA; Barbara Green, University of Notre Dame; Piya Pal-Lapinski, Bowling GreenState University; Leslie W. Lewis, College of Saint Rose; Carla L. Peterson, University ofMaryland; Francesca Sawaya, University of Oklahoma; Talia Schaffer, Queens College, CUNY;Alpana Sharma, Wright State University; Lynn Thiesmeyer, Keio University; Ana ParejoVadillo, Birkbeck College, University of London; and Julian Yates, University of Delaware. ... Read more

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This anthology examines significant work by over 200 women, some of it translated specifically for this project and available in English for the first time, from more than 50 countries. The contents are arranged chronologically - by date of the writer's birth - and each selection is prefaced by an introduction to the life and the work of its author. The literary history of the geographical areas represented is set in context, each with an essay and bibliography prepared by an editorial board. There is coverage of significant ethnic traditions within certain geographic areas: Hispanic, Black, Amerindian, Asian-American, Acadian, Fenno-Swedish, Maori, Catalan, plus under-represented litarary traditions of Turkey, China, Greece, Portugal, the Middle East, Russia, New Zealand, and Italy. The introduction introduces readers to the major literary-critical debates; discusses such issues as "aesthetic criteria/patriarchal aesthetics", "women and the literary canon", the issues of language and translation; and the role of women in the international literary scene. ... Read more

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A rare collection of perspectives
This is a terrific collection of writing by women from around the world, covering the last 100 years.It offers an incredible variety of different perspectives, topics and genres of women's writing--including shortfiction, essays, theory and poetry. A great source to check out short worksby famous writers and not so famous ones who are often equally interesting. ... Read more

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Isobel Hurst examines the role of women writers in the Victorian reception of ancient Greece and Rome, showing that they had a greater imaginative engagement with classical literature than has previously been acknowledged. The restrictions which applied to women's access to classical learning liberated them from the repressive and sometimes alienating effects of a traditional classical education. Women writers' reworkings of classical texts serve a variety of purposes: to validate women's claims to authorship, to demand access to education, to highlight feminist issues through the heroines of ancient tragedy, to repudiate the warrior ethos of ancient epic. ... Read more

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'Reclaiming Home, Remembering Motherhood, Rewriting History: African American and Afro-Caribbean Women's Literature in the Twentieth Century' offers a critical valuation of literature composed by black female writers and examines their projects of reclamation, rememory, and revision. As a collection, it engages black women writers' efforts to create more inclusive conceptualizations of community, gender, and history, conceptualizations that take into account alternate lived and written experiences as well as imagined futures. Contributors to this collection probe the realms of gender studies, post-colonialism, and post-structural theory and suggest important ways in which to read, explore, and comprehend connections between home, motherhood, and history across the multifarious narratives of African American and Afro-Caribbean experiences. Together they argue that it is through their female characters that black women writers demonstrate the tumultuous processes of deciphering home and homeland, of articulating the complexities of mothering relationships, and of locating their own personal history within local and national narratives. Essays gathered in this collection consider the works of African-American women writers (Pauline Hopkins, Toni Morrison, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Audre Lorde, Lalita Tademy, Lorene Cary, Octavia Butler, Zora Neale Hurston, and Sherley Anne Williams) alongside the works of black women writers from the Caribbean (Jamaica Kincaid and Gisele Pineau), Guyana (Grace Nichols), and Cuba (Maria de los Reyes Castillo Bueno). ... Read more

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Lynn Veach Sadler weaves this coming of age tale with old wives' tales and a twist of menace to deliver a stunning, thoughtful story of youth and penance.Polly Junior never could understand why all the womenfolk in her sleepy little town would get so worked up over the arrival of Mr. Rufe. Why did everyone feel obligated to open their homes each year to this wanderer, who arrived each spring to the delight of the town ladies and the dismay of the town menfolk?Nothing is what it seems, and soon it becomes apparent that the seemingly harmless tradition carries a darker purpose. ... Read more

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Foot Ways: A lyrical journey
"Foot ways" is a wonderfully written tale about lost loves and the journey to find a sense of completion.Veach Sadler expertly balances the tale through a number of first person narrators, each one distinct and shines through their own strengths and weaknesses. Her descriptive power adds flavor to this "folktale about a folk tale." Excellent characterization, crisp dialogue and a vivid, lyrical narrative.A wonderful combination.

Dr. Sadler's elegant lyrical wordsmithing gives Foot Ways its considerable power.
In Foot Ways, native North Carolinian, poet, author and former college president, Dr. Lynn Veach Sadler, showcases her mastery of the novella form.

Dividing her novella into five short stories, Sadler paints different character portraits that are relayed to the reader via first-person narratives with a little sadness thrown in. All are carefully constructed and are loosely interconnected in some way or another to a certain Mr. Rufe, who as we learn from the first story narrated by Mary Flora Glory Marchant(Polly Junior), had the knack of showing up every year at "the First Breath of Spring."
It turns out that Mr. Rufe was quite a ladies' man who had a fetish for women's feet, although Mary confesses that she was not taken in by his seductive charm: "He seemed to know that he didn't make my heart pittety-pat the way he did all other women and daughters in the neighborhood."

Mary's mother, Polly Senior, convincingly evokes the dark and dangerous milieu she inhabited both physically and emotionally before she was saved by the town's doctor, Lawrence Miller, his sister Rose and her husband Clarence. Towards the end of her story a certain tall Scotchman in highland garb, pumping bagpipes makes his appearance. Could this be our amorous Mr. Rufe?

Dan Asher enlightens us about his father who was well-versed in the scriptures and who never missed an opportunity to point out various passages in the Bible referring to feet. His favorite line was "How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter!" Dan's father is described as a man with a great sweetness who gained fame as a lover, for he made love to his partner's feet. All women and their daughters adored him.

Mary reappears recounting her relationship with Dan Asher and as she states, as quickly as he had come, Dan Asher was gone but, as we learn, not before leaving something that later changes her life. The novella ends with Mary aged twenty-one recounting her relationship with Bee Burton prior to their breakup.

The characters populating Foot Ways are deftly choreographed giving each a turn on center stage, although I would have liked to have seen a more complete development of Dan Asher and his relationship with Mary. At first the characters may seem disaffected, detached, and unconnected however on further reflection and by the book's end this impression is dispelled.The language of Foot Ways is imaginative, unencumbered with splendid word play and expressive observations. In essence this is what holds together the events of the stories. It is a pleasure to read particularly in the way Sadler effortlessly balances contrasting elements, remembered phrases, verbal exchanges and incidents in a way that moves her stories hypnotically forward. Moreover, as a full-time writer of poetry, Dr. Sadler's elegant lyrical wordsmithing gives Foot Ways its considerable power.

Norm Goldman, Editor & Publisher Bookpleasures

A must read
Reviewed by Tyler R. Tichelaar for Reader Views (5/07)

"Foot Ways," by Lynn Veach Sadler, is one of the most creative, whimsical, and enjoyable books I have read in recent years. It is a short book, but one written with a true precision of language and thought.

The novel is divided into five chapters, told alternately by Mary, her mother Polly, and Dan Asher. The story begins with Mary speaking as a young girl about the fuss the women of her community, including her mother, make when Mr. Rufe annually visits the community every spring. Mary, taking cues from her father, decides she hates Mr. Rufe, partly because Mr. Rufe gets more attention than her, partly because her family allows him to stay in her playhouse, and partly for darker reasons Mary can only sense without putting into words. Later, Mary's mother Polly speaks about her own history. While the entire book is enjoyable, Polly's narrative if definitely the most entertaining as she describes her upbringing and ultimately her marriage. The book then focuses on Dan Asher, a new character, who tells his own coming-of-age story which oddly enough revolves around the fact that his father is probably the only man who ever derived a foot fetish as the result of reading the Bible. Dan's involvement with Polly will later change her life.

I do not wish to go into too much detail about the plot for fear I will give it away. I will, however, say that this book is remarkably unique in its humor. It reads like a fable or old wives' tale. I felt as if I were alternately reading Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market," James Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake," old Scottish ballads, and Southern Gothic literature. Sadler creates moments of the grotesque such as Polly's father selling tickets for people to see her mother dying of cancer. People come from all over to see "The Woman Eaten Up," and when single men come, Polly hides for fear her father will force her into marriage with one. For me, the book's highlight was when Polly performed at the "Annual Masonic Lodge Number Fourteen Spring Jubilee Barbecue and Chicken Stew Supper and Theatrical Performance Tribute." That name alone suggests the whimsicalness of the event where people in the community go looking for a bit of culture. What happens at the (it bears repeating) "Annual Masonic Lodge Number Fourteen Spring Jubilee Barbecue and Chicken Stew Supper and Theatrical Performance Tribute" is the true climax of the novel.

My only criticism is that I thought the ending a bit rushed, and I would have liked to see more about Mary's relationship with Mr. Rufe. A few questions remained unanswered at the end, although that may strengthen the aura of mystery throughout the tale.

Besides being a talented novelist, the author, Lynn Veach Sadler, is also a poet and prize-winning playwright. Somehow she found the time to be president of a college, travel around the world five times, and still master the art of dialogue to a degree few writers achieve. Her characters' voices draw the reader in with the first few sentences, making the book difficult to put down. The reader reads not only to find out what Mr. Rufe's attraction is to the women of the community, but also because Sadler's prose is as seductive as having one's foot kissed. I recommend "Foot Ways" to everyone and intend to read more of Sadler's work soon. ... Read more

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The greatest works in women's literature --including works by Louisa May Alcott, Emily Bronte, Maya Angelou and Amy Tan -- are summarized, explained and evaluated in this unique reference. ... Read more

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The mention of Chinese women writers in diaspora immediately brings to mind Jung Chang (b. 1952) and her Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (1991), which won the 1992 NCR book award and the 1993 British Book of the Year Award, and got officially banned in China.Despite its popular reception and crucial acclaim, Chang s work has invited a lot of attacks. Among the most common is the contention that it merely focuses on the experience of the privileged and does not tell the reader what other memoirs have not already revealed. Chinese Women Writers in Diaspora is a pioneering study that focuses on four Chinese women writers currently living in the United States and England, whose works have been popularly received and in many cases, highly controversial but have received little scholarly attention: Xinran (b.1958), Hong Ying (b. 1962), Anchee Min (b.1957), and Adeline Yen Mah (b.1937).The chapters illuminate how Xinran constructs her identity and her fellow Chinese women in dialectics of self and other; how Hong Ying evokes cycles of return that blend Western and Chinese philosophical concepts; how Min employs images of theatre and theatrical conventions to depict the entrapment and transgression of her protagonists; and how Mah transliterates and appropriates both Western and Chinese fairy tale motifs to fashion her Chinese feminist utopia.While Jung Chang s memoir seems confining, it has aroused interest in the genre of Chinese female autobiography, and Chinese women writers who live and write between cultures. ... Read more

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In this compelling interdisciplinary study, Linda Grasso demonstrates that using anger as a mode of analysis and the basis of an aesthetic transforms our understanding of American women's literary history. Exploring how black and white nineteenth-century women writers defined, expressed, and dramatized anger, Grasso reconceptualizes antebellum women's writing and illuminates an unrecognized tradition of discontent in American literature. She maintains that two equally powerful forces shaped this tradition: women's anger at their exclusion from the democratic promise of America, and the cultural prohibition against its public articulation.

Grasso challenges the common notion that nineteenth-century women's writing is confined to domestic themes and shows instead how women channeled their anger into art that addresses complex political issues such as slavery, nation-building, gender arrangements, and race relations. Cutting across racial and genre boundaries, she considers works by Lydia Maria Child, Maria W. Stewart, Fanny Fern, and Harriet Wilson as superb examples of the artistry of angry expression. Transforming their anger through literary imagination, these writers bequeathed their vision of an alternative America both to their contemporaries and to subsequent generations. ... Read more