Figes, Eva (1932—)

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Figes, Eva (1932—)

German-born British feminist writer. Born in Berlin, Germany, in 1932; from age of seven, educated in London; graduated from University College.

Writings:

(novels) Equinox (1966), Winter Journey (1967), Konek Landing (1969), B (1972), Days (1974), Nelly's Version (1977), Waking (1981); (non-fiction) Patriarchal Attitudes: Women in Society (1970), Tragedy and Social Evolution (1976), Sex and Subterfuge: Women Novelists to 1850 (1981).

Educated in England, German-born Eva Figes worked as an editor and translator before becoming a full-time writer in 1967. She is best known for her book Patriarchal Attitudes: Women in Society (1970), which examines the ideology of women's subordination in religious thought, liberal philosophy, capitalist economics, psychoanalysis, and popular custom. Along with Germaine Greer 's The Female Eunuch, it provided a descriptive base for the tenets of the women's movement in Britain. Figes is also a journalist and reviewer of note. In 1981, she examined the lives of British women writers in her Sex and Subterfuge: Women Novelists to 1850.