How does one capture the delightful irony of Edith Wharton's prose or the spare lyricism of Kate Chopin's? Kathleen Wheeler challenges the reader to experiment with a more imaginative method of literary criticism in order to comprehend more fully writers of the Modernist and late Realist period. In examining the creative works of seven women writers from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Wheeler never lets the mystery and magic of literature be overcome by dry critical analysis. Modernist Women Writers and Narrative Art begins by evaluating how Edith Wharton, Kate Chopin, and Willa Cather all engaged in an ironic critique of realism. They explored the inadequacies of this form in expressing human experience and revealed its hidden, often contradictory, assumptions. Building on the foundation that Wharton, Chopin, and Cather established, Jean Rhys, Katherine Mansfield, Stevie Smith, and Jane Bowles brought literature into the era we now consider modernism. Drawing on insights from feminist theory, deconstructionism and revisions of new historicism, Kathleen Wheeler reveals a literary tradition rich in narrative strategy and stylistic sophistication.
Kathleen Wheeler is Fellow of Darwin college and University Lecturer at Cambridge University. She is the author of Romanticism, Pragmatism, and Deconstruction and is currently working on A Guide to Twentieth-Century Women Novelists.
"A highly useful collection of readings that trace the topography of contemporary Asian American studies and introduce the major themes and concerns in the field: social movement, immigration policy, racism and racialization, labor, gender and sexuality, and cultural expression. In this ambitious reader, Zhou and Gatewood bring together the histories and contemporary issues facing Asian Americans of different ethnic heritages, generations, and social class backgrounds." -Elaine H. Kim, University of California, Berkeley "An outstanding collection of essays, representing some of the most insightful work being done in Asian American Studies today. The wide range of topics covered and the quality of the selections, make this an indispensable volume, both in terms of its substantive content and its theoretical sophistication." -Lane Ryo Hirabayashi, University of Colorado, Boulder "Contemporary Asian America addresses pressing issues and theoretical concerns of Asian Americans in the twenty-first century. Its wide range of coverage and high quality in the depth of its analysis make this volume valuable." -Esther Ngan-ling Chow, American University "Presents a valuable collection of readings that address the complexities of contemporary Asian American communities. Bringing together a wide range of scholars who work in the areas of history, sociology, gender and sexuality studies, critical race theory, transnationalism, and cultural studies, Contemporary Asian America will serve as the standard reader in courses dealing with the issues confronting contemporary Asian America for years to come." -K. Scott Wong, co-editor of "Claiming America: Constructing Chinese American Identities during the Exclusion Era" Praise for the first edition: "An impressive and comprehensive collection of theoretically grounded and historically rich accounts of the Asian American collective and specific experiences. Ideal for undergraduate and graduate courses in Asian American Studies." -Yen Le Espiritu, author of "Asian American Women and Men: Labor, Laws, and Love"
