Literature and Gender combines an introduction to and an anthology of literary texts which powerfully demonstrate the relevance of gender issues to the study of literature. The volume covers all three major literary genres - poetry, fiction and drama - and closely examines a wide range of themes, including:b * feminity versus creativity in women's lives and writing * the construction of female characters * autobiography and fiction * the gendering of language * the interaction of race, class and gender within writing, reading and interpretation. Literature and Gender is also a superb resource of primary texts, and includes writing by: * Sappho * Emily Dickinson * Sylvia Plath * Tennyson * Elizabeth Bishop * Louisa May Alcott * Virginia Woolf * Jamaica Kincaid * Charlotte Perkins Gilman * Susan Glaspell Also reproduced are essential essays by, amoung others, Maya Angelou, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Toni Morrison, Elaine Showalter, and Alice Walker. No other book on this subject provides an anthology, introduction and critical reader in one volume. Literature and Gender is the ideal guide for any student new to this field.