Bonne Kime Scott's introduction begins by identifying a problem in modernist studies in the last 50 years: it has been male dominated. She's not just whining when she says this -- she relates that a 900+ page volume introducing modernist authors compiled by Richard Ellman only had nine pages dedicated to female authors. I've also recently read J.I.M. Stewart's _Eight Modern Writers_ (written for the Oxford History of English Literature Series) and, of course, all eight authors are male.

So B.K. Scott seeks to address a genuine problem with this anthology, and does so very well and very professionally. She represents a feminism that is more concerned with understanding how gender is constructed in society, and how that affects both men and women, than it is concerned with lamenting oppression or bashing men. And above all, her anthology delivers its promise to present marginalized modernist writers, as well as established modernists (such as Woolf, Eliot, Pound, and Lawrence), in a new light.

Each of the 26 chapters is devoted to a single author, and introduced by a short critical essay. By covering so many authors, of course, the selections for each are lamentably short, and of course specific value judgments proceeding from specific critical paradigms tend to surface in most of the critical work -- off putting if you don't share these premises, or would like some reflection upon them. But this book still serves as an excellent introduction to a new approach to a well known subject. It is indispensable to the study of British and American modernism (yes, the selections are limited to authors writing in English).

Rebecca lived through a lot of interesting things and knew interesting people, so if you're looking to read her letters, this is probably a pretty good collection of nicely typed out copies of them. I would disregard the preface since the editor, Bonnie Scott, has obviously not spent the time on attention to details and solid background information. If you want to read about Rebecca, I would recommend "Rebecca West: a saga of the century" by Carl Rollyson, who spent many hours at our home talking with my father and getting all his facts right over a long period of research.

since my last review, I have written to Bonnie Scott and she has contacted the publishers to correct errors. So it's getting better.