Gail Godwin was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1937 and attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she earned a master’s degree and a PhD in English. Critics regard Godwin’s writings as part of a feminist and Southern literary tradition, and she often draws from her autobiography in her fiction. References to Godwin’s personal life include the unhappy marriages in The Perfectionists (1970) and Glass People (1972), the role of writing and art in The Odd Woman (1974) and Violet Clay (1978), and the treatment of suicide in A Southern Family (1987), published after her stepbrother’s death. These themes overlap with those in “A Sorrowful Woman,” as the story’s protagonist navigates her place within the social conventions of marriage and family in search of a new identity.

Godwin’s assessment of women’s writing caused a stir in her book review of Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s Norton Anthology of Literature by Women (1985). In her review, which prompted letters to the editor, Godwin lamented the anthology’s preferential focus on feminist literature and omission of writers who do not directly address issues of female identity, patriarchy, and gender roles. Aware that her own works encompass these same feminist issues, Godwin argued that critics should evaluate women’s writings as works of art, not solely as works for feminist interpretations.