ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that the eight women writers continue the great tradition of strong women's voices. Their writing is tough, blunt, and emotionally charged as they reflect on their life experiences from a feminine perspective, struggling against convention to liberate themselves. Simone de Beauvoir wrote about her life ceaselessly–in letters, diaries, articles for the journal she edited, four autobiographies, and several novels. They give voice to pains, joys, passions, loneliness, and struggles to understand relationships–all in the name of making something authentic and meaningful, often in spite of demons. Joan Cusack Handler ushers in the ghost of her mother and transforms her deep feelings and yearnings into a universal language. Other contributors with an intuitive feminine perspective include Kim Bernstein, Amanda Hirsch-Geffner, and Gwenn A. Nusbaum. Throughout history, women like Elizabeth Bishop, Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson, and Sylvia Plath have breathed life and energy into their writing.
