Hamlet's Mother and Other Women

Front Cover
Columbia University Press, 2002 - Drama - 266 pages
Carolyn G. Heilbrun's groundbreaking essay "The Character of Hamlet's Mother" was published in 1957 at a time when few critics thought seriously about women's issues in literature. In the years since, Heilbrun has emerged as a feminist leader through her commitment to women's writing and feminist literary critique. Now in a new paperback edition with a new preface by the author, this collection explores feminism in literary studies during the last three decades. By questioning the gender arrangements of society, Heilbrun has helped to transform them. Taken together, these graceful essays demonstrate the consistency and clarity of Heilbrun's vision and her deep respect for the lives of women who write.

About the author (2002)

Carolyn Gold Heilbrun was born in East Orange, New Jersey on January 13, 1926. She received a bachelor's degree in English from Wellesley College in 1947 and a master's degree in 1951 and a doctorate in 1959 from Columbia University. She spent almost her entire academic career at Columbia University, joining the faculty in 1960 as an instructor of English and comparative literature and retiring as the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities in 1992. She wrote several books under her real name including Toward a Recognition of Androgyny: Aspects of Male and Female in Literature, Reinventing Womanhood, Writing a Woman's Life, and The Last Gift of Time: Life Beyond Sixty. She wrote the Kate Fansler Mystery series under the pseudonym Amanda Cross. She committed suicide on October 9, 2003.