Driving Women: Fiction and Automobile Culture in Twentieth-Century America

Over the years, cars have helped to define the experiences and self—perceptions of women in complex and sometimes unexpected ways. When women take the wheel, family structure and public space are reconfigured and re—gendered, creating a context for a literary tradition in which the car has served as a substitute for, an escape from, and an extension of the home, as well as a surrogate mother, a financial safeguard, and a means of self—expression.

Driving Women examines the intersection of Am...