Robyn R. Warhol

Robyn R. Warhol (born 1955) is an American literary scholar, associated in particular with feminist narrative theory, of which she is considered (along with Susan Sniader Lanser) one of the originators. She is currently an Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor of English at [http://www.osu.edu the Ohio State University] and a core faculty member of [http://projectnarrative.osu.edu Project Narrative]. Warhol received her BA in English from Pomona College in 1977 and her PhD in English and American Literature from Stanford University in 1982, where she studied with Thomas Moser, George Dekker, and Ian Watt.

Her approach uses the vocabulary developed within narrative theory to describe how novels are put together, keeping in mind the differences that gender can make in how stories are written and read. Her first book introduced the idea that narrators in nineteenth-century realist novels could use "masculine" or "feminine" styles of storytelling, whether the authors were women or men. Warhol called the feminine style "the engaging narrator," a narrator that earnestly speaks directly to "you, Reader." ''Having a Good Cry'' looks at how repeated reading or watching of popular narrative forms like soap opera, serialized novels, and chick-flicks shapes individual people's gender identity. The book is unusual in its focus on bodily feelings that audiences may experience like crying, cringing, or yawning while reading. Provided by Wikipedia