Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-200) and index.

Shinn analyzes fictional American women from the 1940s, the 1950s, and the 1960s, and discovers the growth patterns of women and of society itself reflected in women characters. Arguing that women reflect common human concerns in contemporary society, she provides numerous examples drawn by various writers, including Saul Bellow, Hortense Calisher, Shirley Jackson, John Updike, and Carson McCullers. Shinn traces the evolution of women characters from the 1940s and finds that women characters revealed not only the contemporary realities of growing up female in America but also the social and individual imbalances. The afterword covers the 1970s and 1980s. ISBN 0-3130-25197-5: $29.95.

Also issued online.

SACFinal081324