“From a feminist perspective, Melanie’s academic life was saved twice: once by JJ Wilson, with whom she worked as a teaching assistant and who offered an example (then very rare) of an enormously talented woman teacher and scholar doing absolutely everything her own way; the second time was by the Comp. Lit. Women’s Caucus. After completing her doctorate in Comparative Literature at Berkeley, and a Renaissance dissertation, Melanie reconstructed herself as a teacher of Women’s Studies, Jewish Studies, and race theory, and as a writer.”
—from Melanie’s bio in The Berkeley Literary Women’s Revolution, edited by Marsha Hudson, Bridget Connelly, Doris Earnshaw, Olivia Eielson, and Judy Wells, which includes an essay by Melanie, “Liberation Studies Now,” submitted by Marsha, Bridget, Olivia, and Judy