ABSTRACT
The tradition of scholarly writing in literature has always included the personal essay, in which the writer draws connections between observation and experience and the chosen topic. In the field of literary criticism, especially as it applies to the canon, a landmark essay is Adrienne Rich’s “When We Dead Awaken: Writing As Re-Vision” (1971) in which she used her own development as a creative writer to explain how the traditional texts by white heterosexual males were unable to provide her with adequate models for finding her voice as a Jewish lesbian. This model offered an alternative to women writing in the profession and is now a common practice of many feminist writers such as Jane Tompkins, Carolyn Heilbrun, bell hooks, Gloria Anzaldua, and June Jordan. I am thankful to write about literature at a time when the observations and experience of the writer are valued and expected by feminist readers and, to some extent, by others in the profession. In contrast to a heavily academized writing style that attempts to impress the reader into agreement, feminist writing as it is now practiced tries to be clear, to draw upon examples that are accessible to most intended readers, to acknowledge its own perspective, and to be applicable to life knowledge as well as academic knowledge (in fact, we try to make these the same).
