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Gilbert, Sandra M. and Gubar, Susan. "The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends", 2nd ed. Boston : Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1998. Copied under Permission from Access Copyright. Further reproduction, distribution or transmission is prohibited, except as otherwise permitted by law.

Sandra M. Gilbert and
b. 1936

Susan Gubar
b. 1944
Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar are best known for their collaborative explorations of women's literary tradition. They have co-authored The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman …show more content…

Locked into structures c reated by and for 11l n. eighteenth· and ni netee nth -century w m n \vTiter~ d id not so m u h rebe l a gain t (he prevatling aes theti' as feel g ui.lty a bo ut their in ability to con f ffil to it. W ith little sense of a Vtable fema le c ulture, such wo m e n were plain l. much troub led b I tne fa t that the y needed t communi ate tru ths whi h othe r li .e. m ale writIUJ ud h lc:agO . Throut h the F/owt:L Nt, S t ntg ,~/~ a. a Womnn rtIst New ork : Do ubleday . [977), p. 4u. 1I.i

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ers app:H~ n ll.· never fe lt or expres.. e Condlti ned 10 dou h( their (1Wn aUlhority anyway. wOmen writer' who w (ed t describe what. ill Dick in:o n' $ phr e. i ~ " nol brayed of f ngu , d I wou ld fin d it eas ier to doubt themselves than the cen , ori u, voie f s ci Iy . Th vas ions and c ncea lm e n~ of the ir an re therefore far more elabo rate than ttl se 0 most ma le wrIter . For, ~iven the patriarc hal bia e ninete nth-cenlury literM ulture, the literary woman did have som thing c ruc ial to hide. Because so many of the lost or concealed lrulhs f fema le c ul ture have recenll y been retrieved by femLllist scholars , women readers in p rt icular ha ' la te ly bee me aware thal ninete nth-cen tury literary women fe lt they had things tl hide . Many femini t critics, there~ reo have begun to wnle ab ut (hese phenomena f evasion and COn ealment in women '$ writing, [n The Female {maRi