The Word Woman and Other Related Writings

Laura (Riding) Jackson set out to understand "the woman element in human identity". "The Word 'Woman'" belongs in the company of other works of gender study. It collects her most explicit writings on the subject. The title piece, published for the first time, was written in Majorca during 1933-5 when she and Robert Graves were associated in fruitful literary partnership. Left behind when they fled at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the manuscript was later in the possession of Robert Graves, who used Riding's thought as source material for "The White Goddess". By investigating definitions, historical and literary usages, the words of women about themselves, and the physical body of woman, Laura (Riding) Jackson seeks to understand the word "woman". Motherhood, "man-fever" in women, work satisfaction, sexual equality, and the essential relationship between man and woman are all considered. The book also includes three later essays, two stories, and an unpublished personal commentary on the relationship of her thought on woman to Robert Graves's.