Buss supplies a framework for her study by reviewing male-centred theories of identity and some of the ways in which theorists working with women's autobiographical accounts are changing these models. The texts selected by Buss include those by Elizabeth Simcoe, Susanna Moodie, Anna Jameson, Nellie McClung, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Emily Carr, Laura Salverson, Margaret Laurence, Dorothy Livesay, Daphne Marlatt, Mary Meigs, Maria Campbell, Kristjana Gunnars, and Aritha van Herk. Each section of the book opens with a short autobiographical introduction by Buss, allowing the reader to place the author's critical practice within the context of her sense of her own identity as critic, writer, and woman.

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"Mapping Our Selves is ... a joy to read. Buss takes the risk of offering her own life as part of her critical process and succeeds in drawing the reader into an active and intimate relationship. Her obvious pleasure in these women's autobiographies makes itself felt on every page." Carol Shields, author of The Stone Diaries.