The Word Woman
Laura (Riding) Jackson

Edited by Elizabeth Friedmann and Alan J. Clark

Laura (Riding) Jackson was a woman of vision, and at the heart of her work in poetry and prose is a vision of woman. This volume brings together some of her most profound and explicit writings on the subject of woman’s role in the story of human identity. The core piece, “The Word ‘Woman’” was written in Majorca during 1933-35 when she was known as Laura Riding and is published here for the first time. In it Riding searches for an understanding of woman by investigating definitions of the word and it historic and literary usages; what women say about themselves; and the physical body of woman in appearance and impression Among the topics she discusses are motherhood, “man-fever” in women, work satisfaction, sexual equality, and the essential relationship between man and woman.
Also included in this volume are three later essays and two stories.
Laura (Riding) Jackson sought to understand “the woman element in human identity.” She has come very far. The Word “Woman” belongs in the company of other groundbreaking works of gender study.

Laura (Riding) Jackson (1901-1991) is the author of more than forty books of poetry, criticism, and story. In 1991, just months prior to her death, she was awarded the Bollingen Prize for lifelong service to poetry.

Paperback / $11.95 (Can $17.00) / ISBN 978-0-89255-185-9 / 212 pages / Gender Studies