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by S. R. Stewart (Author)
What if you could look at your favorite play, novel, or poem in a whole new way? In S.R. Stewart's collection Essays: An Analysis of Traditional and Marginal Literature, she gives you just that, and then some.
Essays looks at English favorites such as Beowulf, The Dream Songs, and Pride and Prejudice through a microscope tuned in to the marginal groups of those works. Stewart talks women. She talks sexuality. And more importantly, she talks about the subversion of those who are often left out of the conversation until somebody (ahem, Ivory Tower) deems them important.
Of the women in Beowulf, she writes, "Wealhtheow, Grendel's Mother, and Hildeburh...these women entertain, bring peace, and contradict societal expectations of the female gender, either directly or indirectly. Women fall into these roles because the male-dominated society does not allow for women to venture out into other archetypes. The roles of the hostess and the peacemaker are inherent to the conditioned female nature, while the monster is the unmodified female in her natural state of being."
Essays is the perfect companion book for the university classroom, aspiring scholars, home educators, and writers alike. Stewart worked in conjunction with Unsolicited Press and her company If You Give a Girl a Book to build the collection out of her desire to help others -- all proceeds from the book will be donated to Smart Oregon, a literacy group in Oregon dedicated to building confidence in children's reading skills.
