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A secret sisterhood : the literary friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot & Virginia Woolf / Emily Midorikawa & Emma Claire Sweeney ; foreword by Margaret Atwood.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017Copyright date: ©2017Edition: First U.S. editionDescription: xx, 331 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 054488373X
  • 9780544883734
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction: In search of a secret sisterhood -- Jane Austen & Anne Sharp. A circle of single women ; Rebellion behind closed doors ; Closing ranks -- Charlotte Brontë & Mary Taylor. Three's a crowd ; Two adventurous spirits ; One great myth -- George Eliot & Harriet Beecher Stowe. The stuff of legend ; The specter of scandal ; An act of betrayal -- Katherine Mansfield & Virginia Woolf. Friends or foes? ; Cat-and-mouse ; Life and death -- Epilogue: A web of literary connections.
Summary: "Male literary friendships are the stuff of legend, from Byron and Shelley to Fitzgerald and Hemingway. But the world's most celebrated female authors are usually mythologized as solitary eccentrics or isolated geniuses. Friends Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney prove this wrong, thanks to their investigations into a wealth of surprising collaborations: the friendship between Jane Austen and one of the family servants, amateur playwright Anne Sharp; the daring feminist author Mary Taylor, who shaped the work of Charlotte Brontë; the transatlantic friendship of the seemingly aloof George Eliot and the ebullient Harriet Beecher Stowe; and Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield, most often portrayed as bitter foes, but who, in fact, enjoyed a complex friendship fired by an underlying erotic charge. Drawing on letters and diaries, some of which have never been published before, A Secret Sisterhood resurrects these stories of female friendships and literary collaborations. They were sometimes scandalous and volatile, sometimes supportive and inspiring, but always--until now--tantalizingly consigned to the shadows."--Jacket flap.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 823.0099 M629 Available 33111008834745
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Male literary friendships are the stuff of legend; think Byron and Shelley, Fitzgerald and Hemingway. But the world's best-loved female authors are usually mythologized as solitary eccentrics or isolated geniuses. Coauthors and real-life friends Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney prove this wrong, thanks to their discovery of a wealth of surprising collaborations: the friendship between Jane Austen and one of the family servants, playwright Anne Sharp; the daring feminist authorMary Taylor, who shaped the work of Charlotte Brontë; the transatlantic friendship of the seemingly aloof George Eliot and Harriet Beecher Stowe; and Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield, most often portrayed as bitter foes, but who, in fact, enjoyed a complex friendship fired by an underlying erotic charge.



Through letters and diaries that have never been published before, A Secret Sisterhood resurrects these forgotten stories of female friendships. They were sometimes scandalous and volatile, sometimes supportive and inspiring, but always--until now--tantalizingly consigned to the shadows.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-316) and index.

Introduction: In search of a secret sisterhood -- Jane Austen & Anne Sharp. A circle of single women ; Rebellion behind closed doors ; Closing ranks -- Charlotte Brontë & Mary Taylor. Three's a crowd ; Two adventurous spirits ; One great myth -- George Eliot & Harriet Beecher Stowe. The stuff of legend ; The specter of scandal ; An act of betrayal -- Katherine Mansfield & Virginia Woolf. Friends or foes? ; Cat-and-mouse ; Life and death -- Epilogue: A web of literary connections.

"Male literary friendships are the stuff of legend, from Byron and Shelley to Fitzgerald and Hemingway. But the world's most celebrated female authors are usually mythologized as solitary eccentrics or isolated geniuses. Friends Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney prove this wrong, thanks to their investigations into a wealth of surprising collaborations: the friendship between Jane Austen and one of the family servants, amateur playwright Anne Sharp; the daring feminist author Mary Taylor, who shaped the work of Charlotte Brontë; the transatlantic friendship of the seemingly aloof George Eliot and the ebullient Harriet Beecher Stowe; and Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield, most often portrayed as bitter foes, but who, in fact, enjoyed a complex friendship fired by an underlying erotic charge. Drawing on letters and diaries, some of which have never been published before, A Secret Sisterhood resurrects these stories of female friendships and literary collaborations. They were sometimes scandalous and volatile, sometimes supportive and inspiring, but always--until now--tantalizingly consigned to the shadows."--Jacket flap.

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