Images and categories that have shaped Western women's sense of themselves in the 20th century are looked at in this interdisciplinary collection of essays, which bring together the perspectives of literary criticism, social history, and linguistics. Contributions about the status of women in Canada, France, East Germany, Great Britain, and the U.S. show both the similarity and diversity of women's experience in a world determined by patriarchal assumptions, where women's only hope of change lies in developing a determination of their own. Sylvia Plath, Alice Walker, and Storm Jameson are among the writers whose ambition and authenticity are examined. Contents: Acknowledgement; Introduction, Jennifer Birkett and Elizabeth Harvey; Private Fantasy and Public Intervention: Girls' Reading in Weimar Germany, Elizabeth Harvey; Double Determined: The Ambition of Storm Jameson, Jennifer Birkett; The Negative of a Person: Media, Image and Authenticity in the Work of Sylvia Plath, Stan Smith; A Question of Inheritance: Canadian Women's Short Stories, Coral Ann Howells; Whistling Like a Woman: Alice Walker, Jennifer Birkett; Beyond Paper Heroines: Maxie Wander's Guten Morgen, du Schone and Its Reception in the GDR, Patricia Harbord; Sexism in French: A Case Study, Robin Adamson; The Castration of Cassandra, Helga Geyer-Ryan.