bildungsroman ends with the protagonist’s adjustment to society as a sign of
his full development. Students interested in exploring the female bildungsro-
man should pay close attention to the way women writers use the form. What
aspects of society are identified as shaping the female protagonist? What form
does rebellion take for the heroine? In addition, students should be aware of
aspects of the anti-bildungsroman, especially in the denouement of a work. If
the protagonist adjusts to society, is this resolution presented as a positive one?
If the protagonist does not adjust, does the work propose an alternative to
social conformity? Students might also consider memoirs and autobiographies,
as these works also allow writers to explore the way society shapes female
identity and agency. Possible works to examine include Maya Angelou’s I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970), Vivian Gornick’s Fierce Attachments: A
Memoir (1987), Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted (1993), Elizabeth Wurtzel’s
Prozac Nation (1994), Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club (1995), and Alice Sebold’s
Lucky (1999). Writing Women’s Lives: An Anthology of Autobiographical Narra-
tives by Twentieth-Century American Women Writers (1994), edited by Susan
Cahill, also identifies relevant sources.RESOURCES
Primary Works
Susan Cahill, ed., Writing Women’s Lives: An Anthology of Autobiographical Narratives
by Twentieth-Century American Women Writers (New York: Harper, 1994).
Collection of fifty autobiographical narratives that depict an array of women’s
experiences by women writers including Louise Bogan, Annie Dillard, Sandra
Cisneros, Dorothy Allison, Kate Millett, Denise Levertov, Jeanne Wakatsuki
Houston, and Maya Angelou.
Barbara A. Crow, ed., Radical Feminism: A Documentary Reader (New York: New
York University Press, 2000).
Collection of primary documents written in the 1960s and 1970s by American
feminists, including manifestos, meeting minutes, newsletters, and essays essential
to understanding the emergence and development of radical feminist thought in
the United States.
Elisabeth A. Frost and Cynthia Hogue, eds., Innovative Women Poets: An Anthol-
ogy of Contemporary Poetry and Interviews (Iowa City: University of Iowa
Press, 2006).
Brings together the work of a group of poets diverse in terms of movements,
ethnicity, and craft, with interviews and introductions that provide biographical
and literary contexts.
Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan D. Gubar, eds., The Norton Anthology of Literature
by Women, third edition (New York: Norton, 2007).
Essential collection of works in English in which contemporary American writers
are well represented. The biographical information and introduction are useful in
providing historical and social contexts for reading the works.