Women and Romance: A Reader

493 Pages·2001·1.96 MB·English

by  Susan Ostrov Weisser

Women and Romance

Women and Romance
A Reader
 
Susan Ostrov Weisser
a
New York University Press
new york and london
   
New York and London
(cid:1) 2001by New York University
All rightsreserved
Libraryof CongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Women and romance : a reader / editedby SusanOstrov Weisser.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8147-9354-1(alk. paper)—ISBN0-8147-9355-X(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Women.2. Love. 3. Women in literature.4. Love in literature.5. Women and
literature.6. Love stories—Historyand criticism.I. Weisser,Susan Ostrov.
HQ1386 .W65 2001
305.4—dc21 2001030493
NewYorkUniversityPressbooksareprintedonacid-freepaper,
andtheirbindingmaterialsarechosenforstrengthanddurability.
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Madeline

Contents
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
 : Historical Views of Women and Romantic Love
1. The Art of CourtlyLove (c. 1185) 9
AndreasCapellanus
2. The Worth of Women: Wherein Is Clearly Re-
vealedTheirNobilityand TheirSuperiorityto Men (1600) 12
ModerataFonte
3. E´mile(1762) 17
Jean-JacquesRousseau
4. A Vindicationof the Rightsof Woman (1792) 23
MaryWollstonecraft
5. Editorialin the Lily (1852) 29
ElizabethCadyStanton
6. The Young Lady’s Counsellor: Or Outlines and
Illustrationsof the Sphere,the Duties,andthe Dangersof
YoungWomen (1855) 31
DanielWise
7. A Woman’sThoughtsaboutWomen (1858) 33
DinahMariaMulockCraik
8. The Principlesof SocialFreedom (1871) 39
VictoriaWoodhull
9. WhatWomen Like in Men (1901) 45
RaffordPyke
10. Marriageand Love (1914) 51
EmmaGoldman
11. Woman:Her Sex and LoveLife (1917) 58
WilliamJ.Robinson
vii
viii Contents
12. How to LoveLike a Real Woman (1969) 62
BarbaraBrossandJayGilbey
 : Letters and Personal Writing
13. Letterto Abelard(12thCentury) 67
Heloise
14. Lettersof Love and GallantryWrittenby Ladies(1694) 71
15. Lettersto GilbertImlay(1793–95)and William
Godwin(1796–97) 72
MaryWollstonecraft
16. A Girl’sLife EightyYears Ago (1800) 82
ElizaSouthgateBowne
17. Lettersto EllenNussey(1840)and ConstantineHe´ger (1845) 85
CharlotteBronte
18. Letterto Herbert Spencer(1852) 89
GeorgeEliot
19. Lettersto “Master”(c. 1861)and SusanGilbertDickinson
(1852,1855) 91
EmilyDickinson
20. Lettersto HoughtonGilman(1898) 95
CharlottePerkinsGilman
21. Lettersto Ben Reitman(1909,1919);LivingMy Life (1934) 97
EmmaGoldman
22. Lettersto LeonardWoolf(1912)and Vita Sackville-West(1929) 102
VirginiaWoolf
23. Lettersto Jean-PaulSartre(1938) 105
SimonedeBeauvoir
24. A Letterto Larry (1989) 107
MaryMoore
 : Second-Wave Feminist Theory
25. The SecondSex (1949) 113
SimonedeBeauvoir
26. TheDialecticof Sex (1970) 119
ShulamithFirestone
Contents ix
27. The FemaleEunuch(1971) 123
GermaineGreer
28. In Favor of True Love over Settling (1975); Going
for WhatWe ReallyWant(1975) 130
ColettePrice(“JoyceO’Brien”);KathieSarachild
29. RadicalFeminismand Love (1974) 138
Ti-GraceAtkinson
30. It’sAll DixieCups to Me (1976) 143
RitaMaeBrown
 : Contemporary Feminist Theory
31. Scratching the Surface: Some Notes on Barriers to
Women and Loving(1978) 149
AudreLorde
32. Closeto Home: A MaterialistAnalysisof Women’s
Oppression(1984) 154
ChristineDelphy
33. ReallyBeingin Love MeansWantingto Livein a
DifferentWorld(1983) 157
LucyGoodison
34. BlackMen and the Loveand Trouble Tradition(1990) 173
PatriciaHillCollins
35. BeyondSexandRomance?LesbianRelationshipsin
ContemporaryFiction(1998) 177
LynneHarne
36. Searchfor Tomorrow:On Feminismand the
Reconstructionof Teen Romance(1984) 181
SharonThompson
 : Explaining Romance: Feminist History, Sociology, and
Psychology
37. The Feminizationof Love (1986) 189
FrancescaM.Cancian
38. Surpassingthe Love of Men (1981) 205
LillianFaderman
39. The Overvaluationof Love: A Studyof a Common
Present-DayFeminineType (1934) 209
KarenHorney