Women's Literature from 1960 to the Present - Sally Burke (Essay Date 1996)
SALLY BURKE (ESSAY DATE 1996)
SOURCE: Burke, Sally. "The Second Wave: A Multiplicity of Concerns." In American Feminist Playwrights: A Critical History, pp. 139-90. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1996.
In the following excerpt, Burke provides a brief history of the second-wave feminist movement, as well as examines the growth and writings of many feminist playwrights during the 1960s to the mid-1990s, including Alice Childress, Megan Terry, Adrienne Kennedy, Rosalyn Drexler, and others.
Under the veneer of 1950s complacency, a new consciousness simmered among women. Buoyed by a self-confidence developed when many managed homes and jobs during World War II, women who had apparently accepted the retreat from feminism and careers ordained by the return of the men did not forget that their earlier success had proven there was no "natural" gendering of labor into men's and women's work. Like their foremothers...
[The entire page is 12455 words long]
Navigate
Related Topics
