Below is the proposal for the Encyclopedia of Women’s Autobiography. E-mail me at boyntonv@cortland.edu with your prioritized list of three entries you would be interested in writing. The length of entries will differ, depending on the significance and range of the text, figure, or period.

In general, an entry on an autobiographer will give biographical information on the figure and will comment on the texts and their critical reception. An entry on an autobiography will, generally, focus on contextual information and then critical reception. The larger entries on national, ethnic, and historical topics will be between 1,000 and 4,000 words. Writers will organize these entries in consultation with the editors. All entries should include a list of further readings.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WOMEN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY

JO MALIN AND VICTORIA BOYNTON, EDITORS

Rationale

The last twenty-five years has seen a growing and excitingly diverse interest in the field of Women’s Autobiography. Although women have written autobiographies for centuries and published them for over 400 years, the reading and theorizing of their life-writing was not taken seriously within the academy until the 1970’s when Women’s Studies programs began to appear on many campuses. However, no definitive reference of Women’s Autobiography exists, to date. The proposed encyclopedia therefore will fill an existing vacuum in the field.

Format

The format of the proposed encyclopedia will be identical to that of Greenwood’s encyclopedias. The proposed two-volume reference text will have a substantial introductory chapter on Women’s Autobiography. The entries will be alphabetically arranged and will include women autobiographers, diarists, and memoirists; countries/regions and periods; individual works; key terms; and theorists. There will be entries on African American Women's Autobiography, African Women's Autobiography, American Women's Autobiography (Early Diarists, Memoirists), American Women's Autobiography (19th Century), American Women's Autobiography (20th Century), Australian Women's Autobiography, Asian American Women's Autobiography, British Women's Autobiography to 1900, British Women's Autobiography Since 1900, Canadian Women's Autobiography (Anglophone), Canadian Women's Autobiography (Francophone), Caribbean Women's Autobiography, Irish Women's Autobiography, Jewish American Women’s Autobiography, Latina Autobiography, Latin American Women's Autobiography, Lesbian Autobiography, Native American Women's Autobiography. The purpose of these entries is to offer readers snap-shot overviews of distinct autobiographical traditions. While some of the entries in our volumes will be theoretically sophisticated, a majority of the entries will be written in clear, jargon-free language and will be accessible to a wide audience.

Contents

Addams, Jane

African American Women's Autobiography

African Women's Autobiography

Alexander, Meena

American Women's Autobiography (19th Century)

American Women's Autobiography (20th Century)

American Women's Autobiography (Early Diarists, Memoirists)

Angelou, Maya

Anzaldua, Gloria

Asian American Women's Autobiography

Australian Women's Autobiography

Autonomy

Benstock, Shari

Biography

Body

British Women's Autobiography Since 1900

British Women's Autobiography to 1900

Brodski, Bella

Brooks, Gwendolyn

Burney, Fanny

Canadian Women's Autobiography (Anglophone)

Canadian Women's Autobiography (Francophone)

Caribbean Women's Autobiography

Cavendish, Margaret

Charke, Charlotte

Chernin, Kim

Chisholm, Shirley

Class

Clothing

Conway, Jill Ker

Das, Kamala

Davis, Angela

Day, Dorothy

de Beauvoir, Simone

Delaney, Lucy A.

Derricatte, Tori

Dillard, Annie

Dinesen, Isak

Dunbar-Nelson, Alice Moore

Duras, Margarite

Elaw, Ziepha

Ernaux, Annie

Father

Feminism

Foote, Julia

Frame, Janet

Frank, Anne

Fuller, Margaret

Gagnier, Regina

Gender

Giovanni, Nikki

Goldman, Emma

Gornick, Vivian

Halkett, Anne Lady

Harriet Martineau’s Autobiography

Heilbrun, Carolyn

Hildegard of Bingen

Hoffman, Eva

hooks, bell

Hurston, Zora Neal

Hutchinson, Lucy

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Identity

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Irish Women's Autobiography

Jacobs, Harriet

Jewish American Women’s Autobiography

Jong, Erica

Journal of a Solitude

Julian of Norwich

Karr, Mary

Kartini, Raden Adjeng

Kaysen, Suzanna

Keckley, Elizabeth

Kemble, Frances Anne

Kempe, Margery

Kingston, Maxine Hong

Koller, Alice

Kollontai, Alexandra

Kollwitz, Kathe

Latin American Women's Autobiography

Latina Autobiography

Lazarre, Jane

Lesbian Autobiography

Lim, Shirley Geok-lin

Lionnet, Francoise

Lorde,Audre

Mairs, Nancy

Markam, Beryl

Marriage

Martineau, Harriet

Mason, Mary G.

McKay, Nellie Y.

Memory

Menchu, Rigoberta

Menstruation

Miller, Nancy K.

Modjeska, Drusilla

Moments of Being

Moraga, Cherrie

Morgan, Sally

Mother/ Daughter relationship

Motherhood and reproduction

Mukherjee, Bharati

Murray, Pauli

Native American Women's Autobiography

Nestle, Joan

Neuman, Shirley

Nin, Anais

Njeri, Itabari

Norris, Kathleen

Nussbaum, Felicity

Of Woman Born

Olds, Sharron

Out of Africa

Patriarchy

Postcolonial

Prince, Mary

Pruitt, Ida

Race

Rape and sexual abuse

Rich, Adrienne

Rilke, Ranier Maria

Ringgold, Faith

Santiago, Esmeralda

Sappho

Sarton, May

Schenck, Celeste

Sexton, Anne

Sexuality

Shulman, Alix Kates

Silko, Leslie Marmon

Smith, Sidonie

Sone, Monica

Space/place

Spacks, Patricia Meyer

Stael, Madame de

Stanton, Domna C.

Steedman, Carolyn Kay

Stein, Gertrude

Subjectivity

Sui Sin Far

Suleri, Sara

the “Other”

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

The Book of Marjory Kempe

The Diary of Anne Frank

The Woman Warrior

The Women’s Movement

Truth, Sojourner

Voice

Walker, Alice

Watson, Julia

Williams, Donna

Wolf, Christa

Wong, Jade Snow

Woodman, Francesca

Woolf, Virginia

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

Length

The anticipated length of this two-volume set, including front matter and back matter, is 200,000 words per volume.

Date of Delivery

We expect to deliver the manuscript to Greenwood Press within two years.