With this study of the work of the neglected Emily Lawless, Hansson (Umea Univ., Sweden; Romance Revived: Postmodern Romances and the Tradition, 1998) opens up a significant period for women's writing in Ireland. Interspace is Lawless's own term, and Hansson uses it to describe this Anglo-Irish Protestant who determined to avoid stock responses to the nationalist-unionist tensions of ... Read moreher time. This study is comprehensive: Hansson provides biographical background and analyzes Lawless's fiction and other works, looking at the latter in historical perspective and in terms of Lawless's view of women's roles. Throughout, she reiterates her thesis that Lawless fails to take a stand; thus, she speaks in two voices and is political and apolitical at the same time. As Hansson points out, this creates problems for feminist interpretations; that said, Lawless claimed a central role for Maria Edgeworth in Irish literature and in so doing forged a place for her own works. Carefully researched and documented, this study offers new insights on women's contributions to Irish literature as the 19th century waned and the 20th began. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.
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