Women in the House of Fiction
Post-war Women Novelists

A study of post-war European and American writing by women. The author uses "the house of fiction" as a metaphor for containment and a reminder that fiction isn't placeless. Writers discussed include Simone de Beauvoir, Doris Lessing, Tillie Olsen, Iris Murdoch, Angela Carter and Toni Morrison.

' Women in the House of Fiction will become essential reading for anyone - teacher or student - interested in post-war women's writing'. - I.Armstrong, Times Literary Supplement '...a subtle and engaging book ...One of the pleasures of this book is the imaginative insight - and wit - with which Sage unravels the very different strategies of her twenty two chosen novelists'. - H.Carr, Observer The novel was once upon a time the genre women felt at home in. This wide- ranging and detailed study of contemporary novelists explores the forms of nostalgia (shared by many feminist critics) for a 'woman's novel'; and the subtle or savage strategies which have turned the house of fiction upside down. The result is a critique of the nature of narrative now; and a celebration of the energies that are undoing our definitions of women's work.

After the War - Displaced Persons - The Middle Ground - The Movement - Divided Amongst Ourselves