Women's Studies

Literature

The following is a very selective list of books relating to women writers.  A few basic biographical dictionaries of women writers are listed under Biographical Sources in this guide.

American Literature | International Literature

American Literature

African American women playwrights: a research guide,  edited by Christy Gavin.  (New York: Garland Pub., 1999),   JFD 99-14303 and  Sc D 99-2779.

Afro-American women writers, 1746-1933: an anthology and critical guide,  (Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1988),  *R-NBB 90-820.

American women prose writers to 1820,  edited by Carla Mulford.  (Detroit: Gale Research, 1999), *R-AB 79-1061 v. 200.

American women prose writers: 1820-1870,  edited by Amy E. Hudock and Katharine Rodier,  (Detroit: Gale Group, 2001),  *R-AB 79-1061 v. 239.

American women prose writers, 1870-1920,  edited by Sharon M. Harris,  (Detroit: Gale Group, 2000),  *R-AB 79-1061 v. 221.

American women writers: a critical reference guide from colonial times to the present. 4 vols.,  (New York: Ungar, 1983),   *R-SNE 79-5023.

American women writers, 1900-1945: a bio-bibliographical critical sourcebook,  edited by Laurie Champion, (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000). *RS-NA 00-13636.

Berrian, Brenda F.,  Bibliography of women writers from the Caribbean (1831-1986), (Washington, DC: Three Continents Press, 1989),  *RS-NPV 90-10084.

Bzowski, Frances D.,  American women playwrights, 1900-1930: a checklist, (Westport, CT:  Greenwood Press, 1992),  *RS-NBL 92-17173.

Carter, Susanne,  Mothers and daughters in American short fiction: an annotated bibliography of twentieth-century women’s literature,  (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993),  JFD 94-2322.

Contemporary women writing in other Americas,  edited by Georgiana M.M. Colvile,  (Lewiston, NY: E. Mellen Press, 1996-  ), 3 vols.,  JFL 97-374.  Vol. 1: Latin America; vol. 2: the Caribbean; vol. 3: Canada.

Davis, Cynthia,  Women writers in the United States: a timeline of literary, cultural, and social history, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), *R-NBB 96-8603. Covers fiction and nonfiction, even cookbooks and advice columns.  Enables readers to locate women’s texts in the context of history [1 A.D. to 1994].

A Day at a time: the diary literature of American women from 1764 to the present,  edited by Margo Culley,  (New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 1985),  JFE 86-2100.

Gavin, Christy,  American women playwrights, 1964-1989: a research guide and annotated bibliography,  (New York: Garland , 1993),  *RS-NBL 93-4245.

Gerry, Thomas M. F.,  Contemporary Canadian and U.S. women of  letters; an annotated bibliography,  (New York: Garland, 1993),  JFD 93-12220.

Goodfriend, Joyce D.,  The published diaries and letters of American women: an annotated bibliography,  (Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1987),  *RS-SNB 88-3217.

Jordan, Casper LeRoy,  A  bibliographical guide to African-American women writers,  (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993),  Sc E 93-483 and  JFE 96-4983.

Latin American women's writing: feminist readings in theory and crisis,  edited by Anny Brooksbank Jones and Catherine Davies,  (Oxford, Eng.: Clarendon Press, 1996),  JFD 96-25871.

Leonard, Kathy S.,  Index to translated short fiction by Latin American women in English language anthologies,  (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997), JFE 98-1924.

Making waves: an anthology of writings by and about Asian American women,  edited by Asian Women United of California,  (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1989),  JFE 91-3565.

Manning, Beverley,  We shall be heard: an index to speeches by American women, 1976-1985,  (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1988),  *RS-NBR 89-3010.

Modern American women writers,  (New York: C. Scribner’s Sons; Toronto: Collier Macmillan Canada, 1995),  *R-SNE 93-3476.  Critical and biographical essays on 41 American women writers since the 1870s.

Native American women's writing, c. 1800-1924: an anthology,  edited by Karen L. Kilcup, (Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers, 2000),  HBC 00-12571.

The Oxford companion to women’s writing in the United States,  (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995),  *R-SN 94-15032.  Alphabetical list of names and terms; timeline of U.S. women’s writing; bibliography and index.

Ranta, Judith A.,  Women and children of the mills: an annotated guide to nineteenth-century American textile factory literature,  (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999),  JFE 99-12297.

Reardon, Joan,  Poetry by American women, 1900-1975: a bibliography,  (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1979),  *RS-NBH 79-3469.  A supplement covering 1975-1989 is in *RS-NBH 91-5946.

Redfern, Bernice,  Women of color in the United States: a guide to the literature,  (New York: Garland, 1989),  JFD 90-423 and Sc D 89-562.  Includes African- American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American, and Native American women.

Spider Woman’s granddaughters: traditional tales and contemporary writing by Native American women,  edited by Paula Gunn Allen,  (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1989),  HBC 89-22989.

This bridge called my back: writings by radical women of color,  edited by Cherrie Moraga and others,  (New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1983),  JLD 89-2201 and Sc D 90-480.  The writings of third world women in the United States.

Women’s writing in Latin America: an anthology,  edited by Sara Castro-Klaren and others,  (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1991),  JFE 91-9816.

Yellin, Jean Fagan,  The pen is ours: a listing of writings by and about African-American women before 1910; with secondary bibliography to the present,  (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991),  JFC 91-1563 and Sc C 95-107.

International Literature

Adelaide, Debra,  Australian women writers: a bibliographic guide,  (London: Pandora, 1988),  JFD 88-5383.

Alston, R. C., A checklist of women writers, 1801-1900: fiction verse drama,  (London, England: British Library, 1990),  *RS-NCB 91-5357.

Backscheider, Paula,  An annotated bibliography of twentieth-century critical studies of women and literature, 1660-1800,  (New York: Garland Pub., 1977),  *RS-NCBX 79-4711.

Beach, Cecilia,  French women playwrights before the twentieth century: a checklist,  (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994),  JFE 95-850.

Boos, Florence Saunders,  Bibliography of women and literature,  2 vols.  (New York: Holmes & Meier,  1989- ),  JFL 89-295.  Covers criticism of English-language literature by and about women.  Lists over 10,000 articles and books that appeared from 1974 to 1981.

British and Irish women dramatists since 1958: a critical handbook,  (Buckingham, Eng.; Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press, 1993),  JFE 93-5435.

The Cambridge companion to modern British women playwrights,  edited by Elaine Aston and Janelle Reinelt,  (Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 2000), JFE 01-1672.

Celebration of Women Writers, http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/ offering links to biographical and bibliographical information about women writers, and complete published books written by women.

Chloe plus Olivia: an anthology of lesbian and bisexual literature from the seventeenth century to the present,  edited by Lillian Faderman,  (New York: Viking, 1994),  JFE 94-16350.

Cline, Cheryl,  Women's diaries, journals, and letters: an annotated bibliography,  (New York: Garland Pub., 1989),  JFD 89-7334.  Excellent source for locating published private writings by women.  Includes material in articles and anthologies as well as separately published works.  Some foreign-language material is listed, but most works are in English.

Davis, Gwenn,  Short fiction by women to 1900: a bibliography of American and British writers,  compiled by Gwenn Davis and Beverly Joyce,  (London; New York: Mansell, 1999),  JFF 00-558.

Deutsche Literatur von Frauen, 2 vols,  (Munchen: Beck, 1988),  JFL 88-368.  A collection of critical essays, with extensive bibliographies.  Vol. 1: Middle Ages through the 18th century; vol. 2: 19th and 20th centuries.

Encyclopedia of feminist literary theory,  edited by Elizabeth Kowaleski-Wallace,  (New York: Garland, 1997), *R-NABX 98-8490.

An encyclopedia of German women writers, 1900-1933: biographies and bibliographies with exemplary readings,  edited by Brian Keith-Smith,  (Lewiston, NY: E. Mellen Press, 1997-1998),  JFL 98-440. Library has Vols. 2-10.

Feminist companion to literature in English: women writers from the Middle Ages to the present,  (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990),  *R-SNE 91-7804.

A feminist companion to Shakespeare,  edited by Dympna Callaghan,  (Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell Publishers,  2000),  JFF 00-2866.

The feminist encyclopedia of French literature,.  edited by Eva  Martin Sartori,  (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999),  JFE 00-7222.

The feminist encyclopedia of German literature,  edited  by Friederike Eigler and Susanne Kord, (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997),  JFE 01-6984.

The feminist encyclopedia of Italian literature,  edited by Rinaldina Russell,  (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997),  JFE 97-10451.

Feminist literary theory: a reader,  edited by Mary Eagleton,  2nd edition,  (Oxford, Eng.; Cambridge, MA : Blackwell, 1996),  JFE 96-3535.  Contains excerpts from ground-breaking critical essays in the field.

Fister, Barbara,  Third world women’s literatures: a dictionary and guide to materials in English,  (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995),  *R-NABX 95-10050 and Sc E 95-840.

Frost, Wendy,  Feminist literary criticism: a bibliography of journal articles, 1975-1981,  (New York: Garland Pub., 1988),  *RS-NABX 89-18325. Covers English language articles selected from 450 periodicals.

Gelfand, Elissa D.,  French feminist criticism: women, language, and literature: an annotated bibliography,  (New York: Garland Pub., 1985),  JFD 85-9596.

Gilbert, Sandra M.,  The Norton anthology of literature by women: the tradition in English, (New York: Norton, 1985), *R-NCD 85-2208.  Selections from English-language works, arranged chronologically.  Contains selected bibliographies from Julian of Norwich to Alice Walker.

Grier, Barbara,  The lesbian in literature,  (Tallahassee, FL: Naiad Press, 1981),  JFD 83-7323.

Guy, Patricia A.,  Women's poetry index,  (Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1985),.  *RS-NAE 85-4194. Indexes poems from 51 women's poetry anthologies. 

Imprinting our image: an international anthology by women with disabilities,  edited by Diane Driedger,  (Charlottetown, P.E.I., Canada: Gynergy, 1992),  JFD 94-21755.

An introduction to women's writing: from the Middle Ages to the present day,  edited by Marion Shaw,  (London; New York: Prentice Hall, 1998),  JFE 97-12848.

Kelly, Catriona,  A history of Russian women’s writing, 1820-1992,  (Oxford; New York: Clarendon Press, 1994),  *R-NACH 94-7436.

Kolin, Philip C.,  Shakespeare and feminist criticism: an annotated bibliography and commentary,  (New York: Garland, 1991),  JFD 92-6300.

Ling, Amy, Between worlds: women writers of Chinese ancestry,  (New York: Pergamon Press, 1990), JFE 90-6256.

Mamola, Claire Z.,  Japanese women writers in English translation: an annotated bibliography,  (New York: Garland, 1989),  *OSB 89-19616.

Nemec Ignashev, Diane,  Women and writing in Russia and the USSR: a bibliography of English-language sources,  (New York: Garland Pub., 1992),  JFD 92-15503.

Nfah-Abbenyi, and Juliana Makuchi,  Gender in African women's writing: identity, sexuality, and difference,  (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997), JFE 98-315.

Nineteenth-century British women writers: a bio-bibliographical critical sourcebook,  edited by Abigail Burnham Bloom,  (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000),  JFE 00-11757.

Opening spaces: an anthology of contemporary African women's writings,  edited by Yvonne Vera,  (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1999),  Sc C 00-376 and  JFC 01-891.

Resnick, Margery,  Women writers in translation: an annotated bibliography, 1945-1982,  (New York:  Garland Pub., 1984),  JFD 84-3478.

Sage, Lorna,  The Cambridge guide to women's writing in English,  (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999),  JFF 00-1958.

Scandinavian women writers: an anthology from the 1880s to the 1980s,  (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989),  JFE 89-4595.

Smith, Hilda L.,  Women and the literature of the seventeenth century: an annotated bibliography based on Wing’s Short-title catalogue, (New York: Greenwood Press, 1990),  *RS-NCB 90-2354.  Covers works by, for, and about women, as well as women printers, publishers and booksellers.

Snyder, Jane McIntosh,  The woman and the lyre: women writers in classical Greece and Rome,  (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1989),  JFD 89-979.

Todd, Janet,  British women writers: a critical reference guide,  (New York: Continuum, 1989),  *R-SNE 91-7428.

Weekes, Ann Owens,  Unveiling treasures: the Attic guide to the published works of Irish women literary writers: drama, fiction, poetry,  (Dublin: Attic Press, 1993),  JFD 93-15422.

Women of the word: Jewish women and Jewish writing,  edited by Judith R. Baskin,  (Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1994),  *PYI 95-266.

Women writing in India: 600 B.C. to the present,  edited by Susie Tharu and K. Lalita, 2 vols.,  (New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 1991-1993),  JFL 95-4.