Review by Choice Review
Though Gough and Rudd's collection of essays on Gilman's fiction is uneven, one of its strengths is that nine of the 11 essays are new and explore intriguing topics--e.g., metaphors of infection and disease in Gilman's fiction and Gilman as ecofeminist. Unfortunately, the weaknesses are many. The title is misleading: the editors (both Univ. of Liverpool, UK) never make clear what precisely is "very different" about Gilman's fiction--a matter that could have been easily addressed in the too-thin introduction. The collection considers only Gilman's utopianism rather than treating the full range of her fiction. The introduction fails to synthesize the edition adequately, leaving the reader to ponder the relationship among the various essays. The editing is weak; discrepancies appear in book titles and characters' names. One egregious error is the claim that "in 1890" Gilman was "one of the USA's best-known utopian writers," when in fact she was still virtually unknown at the time. The greatest deficiency is the index, which is merely a compilation of names. However, the volume does address previously unexamined topics, and so it will prove useful in graduate libraries and large undergraduate collections supporting upper-level courses. D. D. Knight SUNY College at Cortland
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
