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Informationen zum Autor Belinda Jack is tutorial Fellow in French, Christ Church, University of Oxford. She is the author of George Sand: A Woman's Life Writ Large and Beatrice's Spell . She lives in Oxford, UK. Klappentext "This lively story has never been told before: the complete history of women's reading and the ceaseless controversies it has inspired. Belinda Jack's groundbreaking volume travels from the Cro-Magnon cave to the digital bookstores of our time, exploring what and how women of widely differing cultures have read through the ages. Jack traces a history marked by persistent efforts to prevent women from gaining literacy or reading what they wished. She also recounts the counter-efforts of those who have battled for girls' access to books and education. The book introduces frustrated female readers of many eras--Babylonian princesses who called for women's voices to be heard, rebellious nuns who wanted to share their writings with others, confidantes who challenged Reformation theologians' writings, nineteenth-century New England mill girls who risked their jobs to smuggle novels into the workplace, and women volunteers who taught literacy to women and children on convict ships bound for Australia. Today, new distinctions between male and female readers have emerged, and Jack explores such contemporary topics as burgeoning women's reading groups, differences in men and women's reading tastes, censorship of women's on-line reading in countries like Iran, the continuing struggle for girls' literacy in many poorer places, and the impact of women readers in their new status as significant movers in the world of reading"-- "'A lively and erudite history of the many and ingenious covers thrown over women's minds to keep us in the dark, Jack's absorbing story describes and deconstructs the endlessly remade cover versions that men (mostly) have told to women, and to themselves, about the reasons why books and women should be kept apart.' (Jeanette Winterson, Times of London) 'In her detailed history of female readers across time and place, Belinda Jack, an Oxford don, argues that anxieties about female readers are mostly a desire to control women's "freedom.'" (Bee Wilson, Sunday Times) 'the enticing presentation delivers a sustainedly nourishing read. Packed with fascinating material, it holds throughout.' (Alison Baverstock, The Independent) 'Jack has done an impressive job of synthesising the scholarly work on book-history that has radically changed what we know about women's reading habits through the ages. In her thorough and informative book, she steadily demonstrates that the woman reader has not been nearly such an isolated or exceptional figure, historically, as was once thought.' (Hermione Lee, The Guardian) 'Erudite and provocative, The Woman Reader throws new light on some old questions... The Woman Reader is a heroic attempt to uncover the convergent forces of technology, theology, economics, medicine and human nature that thwart the quest for female enlightenment.' (Susan Hertog, Standpoint)" Zusammenfassung Tells the complete history of women readers and the controversies their reading has inspired since the beginning of the written word. This volume travels from the Cro-Magnon cave to the digital bookstores of our time! exploring how and what women have read through the ages and across cultures and civilizations. ...
