By exposing the theory of romance to the romance of theory, Diane Elam explores literature's most uncertain, least easily definable and most tenacious genre, assessing its implications for both feminism and the understanding of history. Arguing for a parallel between postmodernism's divided relation to modernism and romance's difficult stance towards realism, Romancing the Postmodern, first published in 1992, not only highlights how postmodernism questions our assumptions about historical time, it also reintroduces the figure of woman to the theory of both history and literature.

In this work, several generations of academic feminists reflect on the history and identity of feminism. The first section articulates feminism's historical concerns by asking questions about feminism as a history. The second section explores more fully how feminism is in conflict with itself. Challenging the contention that a comprehensive or representative feminism is possible, these essays confront the changing conceptions of feminism.

At last - an intelligent and accessible introduction to the relationship between feminism and deconstruction.
In this incisive and illuminating book, Diane Elam unravels:
The contemporary relevance of setting feminism and deconstruction
How we can still understand and talk about the materiality of women's bodies
Whether gender can be distinguished from sex
The place of ethics and political action in the light of postmodernist theory
Feminism and Deconstruction is essential reading for anyone who needs a no-nonsense but stimulating guide through one of the mazes of contemporary theory.

At last - an intelligent and accessible introduction to the relationship between feminism and deconstruction. In this incisive and illuminating book, Diane Elam unravels: the contemporary relevance of feminism and deconstruction how we can still understand and talk about the materiality of women's bodies whether gender can be distinguished from sex the place of ethics and political action in the light of postmodernist theory. Clearly and brilliantly written, Feminism and Deconstruction is essential reading for anyone who needs a no-nonsense but stimulating guide through one of the mazes of contemporary theory.

By exposing the theory of romance to the romance of theory, Diane Elam explores literature's most uncertain, least easily definable and most tenacious genre, assessing its implications for both feminism and the understanding of history. Arguing for a parallel between postmodernism's divided relation to modernism and romance's difficult stance towards realism, Romancing the Postmodern, first published in 1992, not only highlights how postmodernism questions our assumptions about historical time, it also reintroduces the figure of woman to the theory of both history and literature.