-This well-edited and well-written biographical dictionary provides excellent introductory information on the 52 French women writers selected for inclusion--some well-known, some, as the editors admit, 'unknown even to the specialist.' The major criterion for inclusion was a substantial body of published work. Readers may question whether this was consistently applied (Elsa Triolet, for example, was not included), but most names one would expect to find are there. Editorial principles are clearly stated in a brief preface, and an introduction surveys the position of women in French literary life from the 12th century to the current period. The signed articles that follow are each approximately ten pages long, and all follow the same format: a biography, a discussion of major themes, a survey of criticism, and a bibliography of primary works, English translations, and selected critical studies. An effort has been made to provide more extensive bibliographical information for the lesser-known authors. Since the articles appear in alphabetical order by biographee, the chronology and list of authors by date of birth at the end of the volume are helpful. Title and subject indexes are also included. Although many of these authors will be discussed in volumes of the ongoing "Dictionary of Literary Biography" series there is nothing else like this compilation currently available. Highly recommended at all academic levels. —Choice