ABSTRACT
Without suggesting that “enough already” has been written about the way(s) women have been made to appear in the works of canonical authors of British and American literature, it may nevertheless do no harm to notice that certain female writers—very good writers—have not always been flattering in their representation of the sex that used to rule. Take the example of Jewett’s “White Heron.” Set emphatically in The Country of the Pointed Firs, it is a cut or two above the level of anything in the more pedestrian collection so named. Indeed, it is one of the most poetic short stories in the language; its reputation will survive all manner of masculist protest. Almost nothing could be clearer than that no sane man would want to marry Louisa Ellis, not as her elongated period of New England spin-sterhood has allowed her to develop.
