Is there a distinctive women's tradition in literature? Do women write differently from men? What does it mean to define a piece of writing as 'feminist'? Do women encounter particular problems in becoming writers? These are among the questions addressed in this reader in feminist literary theory. Over sixty excerpts are included by writers from Virginia Woolf to Alive Walker. A selection from the classics of Mary Ellmann, Ellen Moers and Elaine Showalter, together with the work of less well-known writers, introduces the reader to key ideas in the development of feminist literary theory. The contributors address the relationship between feminism and other theories, the differences between the Anglo-American and French feminist positions and the specific demands of black feminists and lesbians. Each of the book's five thematic sections is prefaced by an introduction by the editor; this sets the material in the context of current theoretical debate and, without undue prescriptiveness, offers guidelines and suggestions on interpretation.