Self-Made Women in the 1920s United States: Literary Trailblazers

Women of the 1920s led a revolt against the old standards of womanhood that were dominating US culture. Flappers and feminists, they spoke and acted out, inspiring other women to follow. This book analyzes the work of eleven important 1920s female authors who chronicled this revolt: Anzia Yezierska, Anita Loos, Mae West, Josephine Lovett, Nella Larsen, Mourning Dove, Djuna Barnes, Amy Lowell, Gertrude Stein, Bessie Smith, and Dorothy Parker. These trailblazers wrote counter-narratives to the sexism, racism, classism, and homophobia women faced during the Jazz Age. The author brings their novels, poems, plays, film scenarios, and blues lyrics into conversation with each other for the first time to show different approaches female readers could take to become autonomous individuals and full citizens. The works also encouraged readers to maintain supportive relationships with other progressive women. The author argues these works presented female readers with examples of how they could act individually and collectively to attain the political power, social status, economic independence, sexual freedom, and artistic recognition they deserved.

Author: Matthew Niven Teorey
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 05/20/2022
Pages: 210
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.06lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.63d
ISBN13: 9781793628329
ISBN10: 1793628327
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Women Authors
- Social Science | Gender Studies
- Social Science | Popular Culture

About the Author
Matthew Niven Teorey is professor of English at Peninsula College in Port Angeles, WA.