Ebook: Vigilante Women in Contemporary American Fiction (American Literature Readings in the 21st Century)

Gun-toting, rough-riding, crack-shot women; train-robbing female bandits; blood-thirsty mothers who refuse to accept injustice— these women appear in vigilante literature as protagonists that recognize the extent of their own exploitation and directly confront the causes.  In this dynamic study, Graham-Bertolini provides the first analysis of vigilante women in contemporary American fiction and develops a model of vigilante heroines using literary and feminist theory. Through close-readings of important texts, including those by Flagg, Glaspell, Hong-Kington, Hurston, Rawlings, Walker, this analysis broadens our understanding of how law and culture infringe upon women’s rights and joins the discussion about gender oppression and traditional identity politics.