Traditions of Victorian Women's Autobiography

Peterson (English, Yale University) explores the poetics and politics of the domestic memoir and other forms of life writing of the period, arguing that women's autobiography does not represent a singular separate tradition but instead embraces multiple lineages. She analyzes missionary memoirs that challenge Charlotte Brontd's Jane Eyre, Romantic autobiographies of the poet and poetess that Barrett Browning reconstructs in Aurora Leigh , and the professional life stories of Margaret Oliphant and her contemporaries. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Linda H. Peterson is Professor of English and Chair of the English department at Yale University. She is author of Victorian Autobiography: The Tradition of Self-Interpretation and general editor of The Norton Reader, ninth and tenth editions.