A in-dept study of the 1757 feminist denunciation of male privilege and social injustice. Finds the heroine to be not a passive victim but an aggressive correspondent intent on directing the course of her romance. Examines Riccobani's manipulation of the spatial, psychological, and linguistic interplay between presence, absence, and illusion; the power of letters to meld reality and illusion with linguistic incantation; and other features. Developed from a doctoral dissertation for Stanford University. No index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
