Download or read book Women’s Narratives of the Early Americas and the Formation of Empire written by Mary McAleer Balkun and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-08 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays in this collection examine the connections between the forces of empire and women's lives in the early Americas, in particular the ways their narratives contributed to empire formation. Focusing on the female body as a site of contestation, the essays describe acts of bravery, subversion, and survival expressed in a variety of genres, including the saga, letter, diary, captivity narrative, travel narrative, verse, sentimental novel, and autobiography. The volume also speaks to a range of female experience, across the Americas and across time, from the Viking exploration to early nineteenth-century United States, challenging scholars to reflect on the implications of early American literature even to the present day.