FONER%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA (10/16/85)
From: "Leonard N. Foner" <FONER%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA>
If you're interested in this sort of thing, take a look at _How to
Suppress Women's Writing_, by Joanna Russ. [Citation at end.]
It's a very angry book. It'll probably make you angry to read it,
too; it sure did for me. Russ writes SF and "mundane" fiction and
essays, and teaches English and Literature at the college level. In
this book, she details the tactics, sometimes accidental, sometimes
deliberate, that have been used to cover up, belittle, miscategorize,
and otherwise lose the contribution of half of the human race's
literary output for the last few hundred years.
I highly recommend it. It is extensively footnoted, with a good
bibliography, and hence will give you many other jumping-off points in
thinking about feminism and writing in general. Russ talks about SF
only incidentally, since (at least in recent years) that particular
field has been more receptive to female writers---at least a little.
(One reason for this may be that people don't often teach courses
about literary "classics" that includes anything from modern SF.)
Her main points span just about every literary category, rather than
being limited to SF.
The cover to the book is what grabbed me initially, with a "buy this
book" sort of reaction. It's got lots of writing in red on the front,
with little black letters interspersed, in parentheses, and runs:
"She didn't write it. (But if it's clear she did the deed...)
She wrote it, but she shouldn't have. (It's political, sexual,
masculine, feminist).
She wrote it, but look what she wrote about. (The bedroom, the
kitchen, her family. Other women!)
She wrote it, but she wrote only one of it. ("_Jane Eyre_. Poor
dear, that's all she ever...")
She wrote it, but she isn't really an artist, and it isn't really art.
(It's a thriller, a romance, a children's book. It's sci fi!)
She wrote it, but she had help. (Robert Browning. Branwell Bronte.
Her own "masculine side.")
She wrote it, but she's an anomaly. (Woolf. With Leonard's help...)
She wrote it, BUT...
How to Suppress Women's Writing
by Joanna Russ"
Again, highly recommended, if you like angry, scholarly looks at
writing and women.
Citation: University of Texas Press, PO Box 7819, Austin, TX 78712,
1983, ISBN 0-292-72445-4 (-6 for the hardback), LibCong PN471.R87.
<LNF>mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) (10/16/85)
In article <4033@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU> FONER%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA writes: >If you're interested in this sort of thing, take a look at _How to >Suppress Women's Writing_, by Joanna Russ. [Citation at end.] >It's a very angry book. It'll probably make you angry to read it, >too; it sure did for me. Russ writes SF and "mundane" fiction and >essays, and teaches English and Literature at the college level. In >this book, she details the tactics, sometimes accidental, sometimes >deliberate, that have been used to cover up, belittle, miscategorize, >and otherwise lose the contribution of half of the human race's >literary output for the last few hundred years. >I highly recommend it. It is extensively footnoted, with a good >bibliography, and hence will give you many other jumping-off points in >thinking about feminism and writing in general. Russ talks about SF >only incidentally, since (at least in recent years) that particular >field has been more receptive to female writers---at least a little. >(One reason for this may be that people don't often teach courses >about literary "classics" that includes anything from modern SF.) >Her main points span just about every literary category, rather than >being limited to SF. Another book on the same subject is _Silences_ by Tillie Olsen. Olsen does not write SF, and she's not as agressively feminist as Joanna Russ (for one thing, she does not write kill-the-men stories). Its tone is more sorrow than anger. _Silences_ will probably be hard to find in a bookstore, but any reasonably good library is likely to have it. Charley Wingate
QUINT@RED.RUTGERS.EDU (10/24/85)
From: Anne Marie Quint {/amqueue} <quint@RED.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: 16 Oct 85 13:15:17 PDT (Wednesday)
From: Caro.PA@Xerox.ARPA
Subject: Re: feminist sf/fantasy
Here are my favorites:
* The Screwfly Solution, James Tiptree Jr.
For a man, Tiptree sure writes strong female characters well. I
also enjoy the upbeat endings that his novels always have.
* Witch World, etc., by Andre Norton
Another male writer who espouses feminist views. His female
characters are also very well written.
Im sure you will hear this from many others, but both James Tiptree and
Andre Norton are female. James Tiptree has written under other names, notably
Raccoona Sheldon. I believe her last name is Sheldon, but I dont remember
more than that. I dont know if Andre Norton's real name has ever been
publicized.
Others have suggested that John Norman's Gor series treat women in a
radically different way than most other authors, but I haven't had a
chance to read any of those books.
The gor series does indeed treat women in a radically different way... but not
in a good sense. Very few other authors have females who enjoy slavery to
a strong virile male and think it the normal, natural, *fulfilling* thing
to do. Then again, of course the male is strong and virile... how could he
be otherwise? he is male...
bletch barf puke
/amqueue
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