Feminist Literary Classics - Volume II

by Virginia Woolf, Etsu Iganaki Sugimoto, Miles Franklin

Overview

Presented here is Volume II of our Feminist Literary Classics series, featuring three more of the most important feminist novels ever written: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Daughter of the Samurai by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto and My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin. 

The first book in this collection is To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf's experimental and brilliant third novel. This semi-autobiographical book was hailed in its time as a breakthrough work of genius by critics and has been named by both Modern Library and Time Magazine as as one of the 100 best English language novels of the 20th century. 

Next, we have A Daughter of the Samurai, the autobiographical first novel by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto. It tells the incredible true story of a young girl born into a high-status family in Nagaoka, Japan whose father, a samurai, is stripped of his power when the feudal system in Japan collapses and his family is thrown into turmoil and uncertainty. We follow young Etsu as her arranged marriage transports her from rural Japan in the 1880's to the American midwest and back.

And finally, we present My Brilliant Career which catapulted young Miles Franklin into worldwide fame. The story centers on Sybylla Melvyn, a headstrong girl growing up in rural Australia whose family is plunged into debt by their alcoholic father. Young Sybylla's story follows her romance with suitor Harold Beecham, her forced servitude to one of her father's creditors and her attempts to become a famous writer. My Brilliant Career has long been hailed as one of the most popular and celebrated works in Australian literary history. 

Each of these books is presented in its original and unabridged format.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781958943229
Publisher:	Ft. Raphael Publishing Company
Publication date:	01/01/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	1080
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Adeline Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) née Stephen, was an English writer, publisher and feminist. She is considered one of the most important early 20th-century authors and was an early practitioner of what became known as "stream of consciousness" writing. From 1897 to 1901, Virginia attended the Ladies' Department of King's College London, where she studied of classical writing and history and where she came into contact with some of the early reformers of both women's higher education and the women's rights movement. When their mother, Julia, died of influenza in 1895, Virginia's the older siblings took on their mother's role in raising the children. This period is when Virginia first began to battle mental illness, which would plague her throughout her life. In 1912, Virginia married Leonard Woolf, a strong supporter of Virginia's budding writing career. Virginia published her first book - The Voyage Out - in 1915 through her half-brother's publishing house but soon afterwards Virginia and Leonard Woolf founded Hogarth Press which would publish most of Virginia's novels as well as works by E.M. Forster and T.S. Eliot. The best known of Virginia's literary works include Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928).Virginia and Leonard Woolf's relationship was based on mutual respect but not a great deal of physical attraction. Virginia was most likely a lesbian, though some have argued that she may have been bisexual. At any rate, Virginia had affairs with several women (most notably Vita Sackville-West, who inspired Woolf's novel Orlando).Virginia Woolf enjoyed great literary success in her lifetime and her books have been translated into more than 50 languages. Though her popularity waned in the years following her death, the feminist movement of the 1970's did much to revive her reputation and solidify her as one of the most important writers of the 20th century.Mental illness continued to trouble Woof for the rest of her life, causing her to be institutionalized several times. In 1941, Woolf wrote a suicide note, filled her pockets with stones and drowned herself in the River Ouse in Yorkshire.
Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto (1874-1950) was a Japanese-American autobiographer and novelist. As chronicled in this book, Etsu was born in Nagaoka in Echigo Province in Japan (which is now part of Niigata Prefecture). Her family had enjoyed premiere social status prior to Etsu's birth as her father was a high-ranking samurai official in Nagaoka. But when the Japanese feudal system broke down shortly before Etsu was born, her family's financial situation became dire. Originally destined to be a priestess, Etsu entered into an arranged marriage with a Japanese merchant living in Cincinnati, Ohio. She went so far as to attend a Methodist school in Tokyo to prepare for her life in the US and joined the Christian faith as well. In 1898, as planned, she journeyed to the US, where she married her fiancé and became mother of two daughters. After her husband's death she returned to Japan, but wanted her daughters to be educated in the United States and so once again traveled to America. Later in her life, Etsu lived in New York City, where she wrote books and articles for newspapers and magazines, all the while serving as a professor of Japanese culture and history - as well as the Japanese language - at Columbia University. Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto died in 1950.
Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (14 October 1879- 19 September 1954), who published her works under the name Miles Franklin, was an Australian writer and feminist best known for her novel My Brilliant Career, published in 1901. Though she continued to write and publish stories and novels throughout her career, her next major success - All That Swagger - was not published until 1936. Franklin spent much of her career attempting to help her fellow Australian authors and promote Australian literature, even going so far as to endow a major literary prize awarded to authors who wrote about "Australian life in any of its phases" known as the Miles Franklin Award. Franklin never married - though she had many suitors throughout her life - and died in 1954 at the age of 74. Her ashes were scattered in Jounama Creek, Talbingo close to the home where she was born.

Date of Birth:

January 25, 1882

Date of Death:

March 28, 1941

Place of Birth:

London

Place of Death:

Sussex, England

Education:

Home schooling