Stephanie Bird presents a detailed analysis of the twin themes of female and national identity within the works of three major twentieth-century German-language women writers. Bird stresses the importance of understanding ambiguity, tension and contradiction in the fictional narratives of Ingeborg Bachmann, Anne Duden and Emine Özdamar. She studies the three writers closely and draws on feminist theory and psychoanalysis to clarify the complex nature of individual identity. This book will be of interest to literary and women's studies scholars as well as Germanists.