This provocative study explores the function of the unconscious in reading and creative processes. The book asks if reading can change the reader and if women, through reading, can change the unconscious fantasy structures that govern desire. Using models of the unconscious developed by Freud, Lacan, Kristeva, Cixous, Nay, and Chodorow, Wyatt explores the complex interactions between a text and a reader's unconscious. She theorizes specific processes whereby young readers can assimilate dynamic images of female autonomy in
Heidi
,
The Wizard of Oz
, and
Little Women
. By tracing the imprint of father-daughter relations on women's unconscious fantasy life, Wyatt seeks to explain the hold of romantic love fantasies like
Jane Eyre
over many female readers. She looks to contemporary novels for alternative fantasies: to female artist novels by Lessing, Drabble, and Walker for fantasies of sexuality nurturing creativity; and to the flexible family circles of
Beloved
and
The Color Purple
for alternatives to patriarchal family arrangements. Wyatt argues that novels like
The Awakening
Housekeeping
that reflect and transform readers preoedipal fantasies offer women radical alternatives to dominant cognitive and social structures.