"The ideal coexistence of the internal and external world, that of the emotions and that of politics, lies at the core of most feminist fictional diaries. This analysis of fictional journals aims at exploring the multifaceted presence of this very coexistence.

To demonstrate such presence, Lombardi performs a critical reading aimed at teasing out significant textual passages that most clearly reveal a struggle occurring on two different levels - within the psyche of the diarist and between the diarist and the phallocentric society that opposes her access to writing.

In tracing the individual struggles encountered by each single diarist, Lombardi presents, as a result of the juxtaposition of so many different texts, a wider portrayal of women's struggles across five decades and four different national cultures."--BOOK JACKET.