Lost in History

This book deals with the issue of women’s absence from the visible horizons of literature and philosophy. It seeks to understand why and how women authors and philosophers, despite their obvious and numerous existence, are not included in the literary and philosophical canon. Women authors and philosophers seem to be conveniently left out of classes on great literature or on the history of philosophy, leaving students and learners with the impression that they simply do not exist, and that the contours of both literature and philosophy are shaped almost exclusively by men’s hands. The authors examine the sources and consequences of such exclusion, and investigate the scholarly movements that have been set in place to rectify women’s absence from the literary and philosophical fields. In addition to the analyses of the theoretical underpinnings of these movements, this book illustrates through case studies how the retrieval of women authors and philosophers that are “lost in history” may enrich, enhance, and revitalize our existing knowledge in these respective disciplines.