Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature
Encyclopedia
Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature (TSWL), founded in 1982, was the first journal devoted solely to the study of women's and feminist literature. The journal publishes "articles, notes, research, and reviews of literary, historicist, and theoretical work by established and emerging scholars in the field of women's literature and feminist theory
Feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse, it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality...
."
About
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
at the University of Tulsa
University of Tulsa
The University of Tulsa is a private university awarding bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. It is currently ranked 75th among doctoral degree granting universities in the nation by US News and World Report and is listed as one of the "Best 366 Colleges" by...
. Greer's purpose for the journal was to begin "the rehabilitation of women's literary history." Following Germaine Greer’s tenure, Shari Benstock (1983–1986), Mary O’Toole (1986–1988), and Holly Laird (1988–2005) each served as the journal’s editor. Laura Stevens has held the editorship since 2005.
The distinctive TSWL logo, present from the journal’s inaugural issue, is a saxifrage flower
Saxifrage
Saxifraga is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 440 species of Holarctic perennial plants, known as saxifrages. The Latin word saxifraga means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin + ...
, captioned with a quotation from William Turner’s Herbal: "The white saxifrage with the indented leafe is moste commended for the breakinge of the stone." In 2009, TSWL launched a cover redesign (see images below), which presents "a visually bold design that retains thematic elements of the original cover" but continues "to feature a red background, white ink, the saxifrage flower, and the accompanying quotation." Stevens explains, "As before, there are different covers for fall and spring, now focused on a variation of the saxifrage. We hope that this new look establishes continuity with the old one even as it conveys renewal of and advancement in the feminist study of women's literature."
The journal's editorial and advisory boards include scholars prominent in their varied disciplines. Board members include Nina Auerbach
Nina Auerbach
Nina Auerbach is the John Welsh Centennial Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. Her special area of concentration is nineteenth-century England...
, Marilyn Butler
Marilyn Butler
Marilyn Butler is a British literary critic. She was Rector of Exeter College, Oxford from 1993 to 2004, and was King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge, from 1986 to 1993...
, Carol T. Christ
Carol T. Christ
Carol Tecla Christ is the president of Smith College. Smith College, located in Northampton, Massachusetts, is a liberal arts college and one of the Seven Sisters colleges....
, Helen Cooper
Helen Cooper (professor)
Helen Cooper is Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at the University of Cambridge, and fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge.Helen Cooper studied at New Hall, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1968 and PhD in 1971....
, Sandra M. Gilbert
Sandra Gilbert
Sandra M. Gilbert , Professor Emerita of English at the University of California, Davis, is an influential literary critic and poet who has published widely in the fields of feminist literary criticism, feminist theory, and psychoanalytic criticism...
, Susan Gubar
Susan Gubar
Dr. Susan D. Gubar is an American academic and Distinguished Professor of English and Women's Studies at Indiana University. She is co-author with Dr. Sandra M. Gilbert of the standard feminist text, The Madwoman in the Attic and a trilogy on women's writing in the twentieth century.Her book...
, Peggy Kamuf
Peggy Kamuf
Peggy Kamuf is the Marion Frances Chevalier Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. She is one of the primary English translators of the works of Jacques Derrida...
, and Jane Marcus
Jane Marcus
Jane Marcus is a Distinguished English professor at the City University of New York and the City College of New York. She is a notable feminist critic, focusing mainly on modernist texts, particularly the works of Virginia Woolf...
.
Contents
In addition to articles, notes, research, and reviews, Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature has published numerous forums and special issues during its twenty-eight-year run:- The Silver Jubilee Issue: What We Have Done & Where We Are Going, Vol. 26. No. 1 (Spring 2007)
- Emotions, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Spring 2006)
- The Feminist Legacy of Carolyn HeilbrunCarolyn Gold HeilbrunCarolyn Gold Heilbrun was an American academic and prolific feminist author of both important academic studies and popular mystery novels under the pen name of Amanda Cross....
, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Fall 2005) - Where in the World is Transnational FeminismTransnational feminismTransnational Feminism is a contemporary paradigm. The name highlights the difference between international and transnational conceptions of feminism, and favours the latter...
? Vol. 23, No. 1 (Spring 2004) - The Adoption Issue, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Fall 2002)
- FeminismFeminismFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
and Time, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring 2002) - Women Writing Across the World, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Fall 2001)
- Problems of Beauty in Feminist Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Fall 2000)
- Political Discourse/British Women's Writing, 1640–1867, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Fall 1998)
- After Empire II, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Fall 1996)
- After Empire I, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Spring 1996)
- On Collaborations II, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Spring 1995)
- On Collaborations I, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Fall 1994)
- Is There an Anglo-American Feminist Criticism? Vol. 12, No. 2 (Fall 1993)
- South African Women Writing, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Spring 1992)
- Redefining Marginality, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Spring 1991)
- Women Writing Autobiography, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Spring 1990)
- Towards a Gendered Modernity, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Spring 1989)
- Woman and Nation, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Fall 1987)
- Feminist Issues in Literary Scholarship, Vol. 3, Nos. 1/2 (Spring/Fall 1984)
The journal also has developed two new features over its history: the Archives and Innovations sections. The Archives section, instituted in 1986, "is devoted to the transmission and discussion of the findings of archival research and its theory and practice. By archives we mean documents and records relating to the literary activities of women writers: books, manuscripts, letters, publishing histories, and bibliographies." The Innovations section presents new approaches to the study of women writers.