Introduction / W.F. Bevilacqua -- The sentimentalists / M. Kelley -- Thanatos and Eros : Kate Chopin's The awakening / C. G. Wolff -- "The temptation to be a beautiful object" : double standard and double bind in The house of mirth / J. Fetterley -- The forgotten reaping-hook : sex in My Antonia / B.H. Gelfant -- Ida, a great American novel / C. Secor -- Winning : Katherine Anne Porter's women / B. H. Carson -- The visionary art of Flannery O'Connor / J.C. Oates --"A ritual for being born twice" : Sylvia Plath's The bell jar / M.G. Perloff -- Eruptions of funk : historicizing Toni Morrison / S. Willis --Fear of flying / J. Reardon.
