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Through her writings, the Melbourne-based author aims to draw a clear picture of what it means to be a woman nowadays and what kind of difficulties one has to go through. All of her female heroines are struggling with the same kinds of issues: How do they define themselves professionally? , How do they cope with the complexities of their emotional life? , How do they find room for a professional life and a personal life? , How do they deal with long-term relationships? Love Child, Honour, Bombshells and The Female of the Species aptly express Joanna Murray-Smith s aim to portray the problems and issues of contemporary female society. Their themes centre on female identity, generational conflicts and the delicate, but unique universal bond that ties a mother to her daughter. The book tries to provide answers to some key issues of major importance: What is the effect of motherhood and / or career on the gender identity of women in Joanna Murray-Smith s plays? and How does having children change the way women in the four plays think about themselves?

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University Degree in Economic Statistics (2004 - Bologna).Literary research at the University of Melbourne (2010).University Degree in English and American Studies (2011 - Leopold-Franzens-University, Innsbruck).Diploma thesis in Romance Studies/French in progress (Leopold-Franzens-University, Innsbruck).

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