Women, Autobiography, Theory: A Reader

The field of women's autobiography can be for students a bewildering labyrinth full of political pitfalls; uncertain subjects and subjectivities; confused histories; and pedagogical perils. Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson have compiled a reader entitled, simply and logically, Women, Autobiography, Theory: A Reader (1998). Smith and Watson introduce their text as a "guide to the field as it has evolved [...] the essays [....] foreground concepts and pose questions helpful for practicing the critical activity of theorizing women's autobiography" (Smith and Watson 3-4). To that end, the reader is meant more as a point of departure for critical discussion rather than as an ideologically driven, all-encompassing anthology. It is particularly useful for students just beginning their study of women's autobiography, as it lays out very clearly the variety of critical discourses on the subject and as a compilation it naturally provides a variety of sources for further reading. One major drawback, however, is the reader's particularly Western and American focus. The contributors come almost exclusively from the United States and aside from a handful of Canadians, there are only two other contributors from outside North America. Both are teaching and living in Europe, leaving a large gap from women writing in the developing world. Despite their lack of geographic diversity, the reader includes essays that discuss a wide variety of ethnic American experiences and the role that the gender/race/class coefficient could, should, or shouldn't play in theorising women's autobiography. The introduction to the text as a whole provides an excellent roadmap for the reader; Smith and Watson focus consistently on presenting a wide variety of political angles. The sections begin, not with an introduction, but with quotations from critics, authors, and autobiographers. The effect is such that the reader appears to let the texts speak for themselves, rather than trying to promote a specific kind of interpretation or a specific view of the evolution of this methodology. It provides a thorough survey of critical issues in women's life writing, ranging from a discussion of women's autobiography as a distinct entity, of autobiography and the role of women in institutional history to discussions of personal criticism and differences in feminist methodologies. They have considered myriad angles and include essays from across the spectrum of methodological approaches. The broad categories used to contextualise essays reflect the diversity of scholarship. Categorisation shows the diversity of scholarship on women's autobiography and suggests the questions helpful for active practice. On the whole, the reader fulfils its aims. They consider the history and evolution of women's autobiography throughout the entire text, but they also devote an entire section to history, which appears towards the beginning of the reader. The reader is organised thematically rather than chronologic