Godwin, Gail (Vol. 22) - Introduction

Gail Godwin 1937–

American novelist and short story writer.

Godwin is frequently categorized as a feminist writer. However, although her protagonists are women making decisions about their identities, her themes are broader, her characterizations more complex, and her prose more elegant than those in the conventional feminist novel. The Odd Woman, generally considered her most successful novel, concerns the relationship of life and literature, the past to the present.

(See also CLC, Vols. 5, 8, Contemporary Authors, Vols. 29-32, rev. ed., and Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 6: American Novelists since World War II.)