Sandra Gilbert, co-author of The Madwoman in the Attic, dies aged 87

The writer was also a renowned academic and poet as well as being one of the leading figures of second wave feminism

Sandra Gilbert, the American poet and literary critic who co-authored the landmark second wave feminist text The Madwoman in the Attic, has died aged 87.

The 1979 book - written with Susan Gubar, who would become a longtime collaborator of Gilbert's - explored the way that female writers of the 19th century used images and characters embodying madness and rebellion, representing a rejection of oppression.