This is a review of two articles that address the debate about the traditional views of women as writers. In the postbellum era women were moving away from the domestic realm of literature into a more realistic genre. As the shift began to occur within the realm of women's literature, female authors were gaining a new respect from male peers and a new image of professionalism. The nineteenth century female author was begining to write more for their own pelasure rather than money or fame.

Women in the postbellum era were begining to write more for money and acknowledgement as they entered into the genre of realism. Female authors begin exploring telling their own stories through their ficitonal characters, and realizing that a choice must be made between their art and thier family. These women sought out female mentors to help guide them in their new genre and rise to popularity. The more female literature was on the rise, the more women challenged authority with their literature.

The postbellum time in history was a transition for the realm of literature, in between the"success of the sentimentalists" and the era where literature was deemed a male dominated field. Women authors like Louisa May Alcott and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps began writing stories about women who had to choose between their art and the traditional views of women in the domestic realm. The women in their stories reflected how the authors themselves felt, they had to endure hardships to achieve their ultimate goal. As they transitioned into professional authors, female authors began making connections with professional men to further their careers. Female authors of the postbellum era were pioneers in the realistic genre of literature, and in making a name for themselves in professional circles.

The rise of female authorship was on the rise in the postbellum era becuase of a rise in the education of women. A rise in the demand for educated women caused an initial debate in how these women were to be educated, it was decided that women should be educated by educated women. Therefore the female authors of the time were the obvious choice to educate the rising generation. As the stories and poems from those authors were on the rise to educate the next generation, those authors became more and more popular and prominent.

This article really address the role that the debate male versus female literature has played in how critics read pieces. It suggests that you have to look beyond male versus female and view it more as male and female literature working together as one. Some men used fellow female authors as critics of their work before publishing, and knew that those women were capable of the job.

While researching women authorship of the 19th century, I became curious about other eras previous to the 19th centurey. This article about colonial female authors fed my curiousity and gave a view of how the transition came about to the postbellum era. There was more of a prominent religious undertone in the writings of colonial women, this religious reference was more to give credit to their writing than it was to have a moral point. Women knew thier place in politics and religion and therefore used there underlying credibility to verify to readers that they were legitimate authors.