Fictions of Authority: Women Writers and Narrative Voice

Drawing On Narratological And Feminist Theory, Susan Sniader Lanser Explores Patterns Of Narration In A Wide Range Of Novels By Women Of England, France, And The United States From The 1740s To The Present. She Sheds Light On The History Of Voice As A Narrative Strategy And As A Means Of Attaining Social Power. She Considers The Dynamics In Personal Voice In Authors Such As Mary Shelley, Charlotte Brontë, Zora Neale Hurston, And Jamaica Kincaid. In Writers Who Attempt A Communal Voice—including Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Gaskell, Joan Chase, And Monique Wittig—she Finds Innovative Strategies That Challenge The Conventions Of Western Narrative.