This book offers an in-depth analysis as to how and why women have been widely
associated with madness since ancient times. The first part of the book comprises a
historical survey of various perceptions of madness across the centuries, while the
second part of the book covers a wide selection of literary works by American and
English writers who dealt with this subject in their works. In this part of the book,
the authors examine selected works of literature from a feminist perspective by
also drawing on the works of influential theorists of feminist criticism. The authors
further show how these writers, who have been influenced by various philosophers
and theoreticians, critically examine women's madness in their fiction.