The new Southern girl

"This book addresses the ways in which 12 contemporary Southern women writers use their heroines' stories to challenge commonly held and frequently damaging notions of adolescence, femininity, and regional identity. The works of Anne Tyler, Bobbie Ann Mason, Josephine Humphreys, Dorothy Allison, Kaye Gibbons, Tina Ansa, Janisse Ray, Jill McCorkle and young adult writers Katherine Paterson, Mildred Taylor and Cynthia Voigt are examined in detail."--BOOK JACKET.