Mary Ellmann (née Donoghue) (1921–1989) was an American writer and

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

. Magazines she reviewed for included ''The New York Review of Books'', ''The Nation'', ''Encounter'', ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ''Commentary'', ''The New Republic'', the ''New Statesman'' and ''The American Scholar''. Ellmann is particularly noted for her book of essays, ''Thinking About Women'' (1968),Ellmann, Mary. ''Thinking about women''. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. 1968. which discusses the evolution of the representation of femininity in British and American literature, exhibiting sexual analogies and stereotypes from the texts and contrasting criticism by male and female authors. The literary historian Mary Eagleton cited Ellmann's book as one of two "significant texts" in early feminist theory. The work has been widely cited for its introduction of the concept "phallic criticism" as applied to writers of both sexes. In a review of academic studies of gender, Mary Poovey described ''Thinking About Women'' as an example of the "earliest U.S. incarnation" of feminist literary criticism, which, "with the excitement of pioneers discovering virgin territory... helped make writing about women academically acceptable." Ellmann was born in

Newburyport, Massachusetts Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...

. She attended the University of Massachusetts and

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, and married the literary critic

Richard Ellmann Richard David Ellmann, FBA (March 15, 1918 – May 13, 1987) was an American literary critic and biographer of the Irish writers James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, and William Butler Yeats. He won the U.S. National Book Award for Nonfiction for ''James ...

in 1949. The couple had three children, Stephen, Maud, and Lucy.

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Mary Ellmann

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

Authority Page. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellmann, Mary 1921 births 1989 deaths Writers from Newburyport, Massachusetts University of Massachusetts alumni Yale University alumni American literary critics Women literary critics American women essayists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American essayists 20th-century American journalists American women critics