Women’s Fiction, New Modernist Studies, and Feminism

Rejecting recent demotions of gender, this introduction argues for the centrality of women’s writing and feminist theory to modernist studies. This special issue presents work by little-known women writers in the context of major theoretical conversations within modernist studies and feminist theory today, especially affect theory, globalism, and the archive. While affect theory grounds itself in issues of gender and sexuality, globalism and the archive have often stood in danger of neglecting women. This introduction lauds the power of affect theory while showing the deep feminist potential in globalism and the archive.