© Columbia University Press
In Love and Struggle: Letters in Contemporary Feminism
March, 2008
Cloth, 328 pages, 9 b&w figures
ISBN: 978-0-231-13792-8
$40.00
/ £23.50
"This is a smart and savvy book—a fascinating study of what letters have meant to women as writers and readers over the past four decades. Situating letter writing as both demand and gift and mapping the feminist ethic of care that developed from this vast personal archive, In Love and Struggle is essential reading for feminist cultural projects." — Julia Watson, Ohio State University
"Jolly’s fascinating book . . . makes a major contribution to the available literature." — June Purvis, Times Higher Education Supplement
"In Love and Struggle covers the complicated dynamics of the relationship between writer and addressee, the part letters play in specific movements for social justice, and the past and present complexity and vibrancy of the letter form. The book reflects Margaretta Jolly's nuanced yet wry analysis of the importance of letters personally and politically, for she consistently points out the contradictions that exist between desire and ideals in social practice. Although a number of feminists have written nostalgically, theoretically, or descriptively about second-wave feminism, no one has considered the extensive connections among the form of the letter, the ethics and expression of care, and social movements. Jolly's analysis will appeal to any member of the general public who is fascinated by the letter, women's movements, and relationships among women." — Cynthia Huff, professor of English, Illinois State University
"In Love and Struggle is a lively story of second-wave British and American feminists, revealed through their public and intimate letters. From the women's encampments at Greenham Common and beside the Seneca Army Depot to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, Margaretta Jolly shows how vital epistolary testimony has been. She provides an overview of feminist literary criticism of epistolarity, and she analyzes letters between mothers and daughters, lesbian love letters, email novels, memoirs, and feminist activist communities on the Web. Drawing on archival research, feminist theory, and ethics, Jolly examines a wide range of social, literary, and political practices in which letter writing plays a pivotal role." — Linda S. Kauffman, professor of English, University of Maryland