Female Authors

[bruise]

i'd agree with most recommendations so far, but think Maya Angelou is overrated and it all starts to go downhill after the excellent 'Caged Bird'

2nded - anything by Toni Morrison, anything at all - in fact all of her novels

ditto Angela Carter - definitely including her short stories

and also

Adreinne Rich's and Alice Walker's poetry

Joanna Russ' science fiction - very political and experimental

Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time - the best political SF novel i've read (should be as famous as 1984 and Brave New World and seen as a socialist-feminist update of both)

Banana Yoshimoto's 'Kitchen' (but nothing else, unfortunately)

Timberlake Wertenbaker's drama is surprisingly readable off the page, not just a theatre experience



a neglected classic - Elizabeth Gaskell "North and South" - if only cos it got right under Charles Dickens' skin as he recognised that she was the better writer

 

[sojourner]

i'd agree with most recommendations so far, but think Maya Angelou is overrated and it all starts to go downhill after the excellent 'Caged Bird'

Could I ask why you think that?

a neglected classic - Elizabeth Gaskell "North and South" - if only cos it got right under Charles Dickens' skin as he recognised that she was the better writer

 

[spanglechick]

yep.she looks like a bird anyway.

http://www.harpercollins.com/author/index.aspx?authorid=27687

bly... well, you live and learn... stupid bloody name for a girl, though...

 

[Chairman Meow]

Kate Chopin, The Awakening - I haven't read it yet but will be doing so in about six weeks time for my course. Turn of the century (19th - 20th) American feminist fiction, apparently (don't want to do too much research into it until I've read it).

I agree that Wuthering Heights shits on Jane Eyre. From a large height.

Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, of course, and Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams.

I second/third/whatever Toni Morrison and Alice Walker and Margaret Atwood and The Yellow Wallpaper.

Thirding The Yellow Wallpaper here! Anyone notice the insanity theme going on?

 

[sojourner]

Thirding The Yellow Wallpaper here! Anyone notice the insanity theme going on?

Yeh. Out of interest, in case you didn't know (and I wouldn't like to patronise you), have you noticed that she's a mother and a wife?

 

[bruise]

Could I ask why you think that?

i should have expressed that clearer - i rate 'caged bird' very much and still like some of the following, but the writing style goes downhill rapidly

plus there's a common pattern with 'i dragged myself up by the bootstraps' biographies (in general plus i had to read a lot of unpublished ones for historical research) which she doesn't escape - it starts being very much about why she's such a wonderful woman and then met this exceptional man (usually) or did this wonderful thing - her career starts to eclipse the reasons why the original was interesting. it loses the sensitivity for a wider social context and becomes self-aggrandising to be honest. it's a shame - but the first in the series is worth a lot.

only imho of course

i'm not at all sure of the politics of the later ones, neither - but that's probably enough of a derail

 

[sojourner]

i should have expressed that clearer - i rate 'caged bird' very much and still like some of the following, but the writing style goes downhill rapidly

plus there's a common pattern with 'i dragged myself up by the bootstraps' biographies (in general plus i had to read a lot of unpublished ones for historical research) which she doesn't escape - it starts being very much about why she's such a wonderful woman and then met this exceptional man (usually) or did this wonderful thing - her career starts to eclipse the reasons why the original was interesting. it loses the sensitivity for a wider social context and becomes self-aggrandising to be honest. it's a shame - but the first in the series is worth a lot.

only imho of course

i'm not at all sure of the politics of the later ones, neither - but that's probably enough of a derail

ah see, I read it differently, in that she always gets to a point where she realises what she's been doing, and exposes herself and the ideology which led to those weaknesses (edit: wrong word btw - but I cant think of owt precise right now)

One thing I find about African American texts such as the ones I've mentioned, plus some of the male stuff, is a willingness to hold the hand up and say 'yeh, i fucked up, but I was believing in a certain thing at a certain time..I've thought about it now and I think somethin different..'

 

[bruise]

Yeh. Out of interest, in case you didn't know (and I wouldn't like to patronise you), have you noticed that she's a mother and a wife?

i don't get this - are you relating it to the insanity theme?

 

[Neva]

Yeh. Out of interest, in case you didn't know (and I wouldn't like to patronise you), have you noticed that she's a mother and a wife?

my mind = blown

 

[sojourner]

i don't get this - are you relating it to the insanity theme?

Yeh, post-natal depression in this case...often used as a reason to incarcerate women at the time the book was written. And she is incarcerated..by her husband..

 

[sojourner]

my mind = blown

Why? I seem to be the only person here who has heard of this theory about the yellow wallpaper

What did you all think it was about??

 

[Neva]

i don't get this - are you relating it to the insanity theme?

It is related to the insanity theme. It's the point of the book.

EDIT:

Why? I seem to be the only person here who has heard of this theory about the yellow wallpaper

What did you all think it was about??

I was being sarcastic Not at you I mean. Just at the idea that anyone wouldn't get the 'insanity theme' and the fact it was linked to the roles society expected her to play.

 

[sojourner]

It is related to the insanity theme. It's the point of the book.

EDIT:



I was being sarcastic

Quick edit

 

[Neva]

Yeah but then I had to edit it again because I didn't want you to think I was aiming the sarcasm at you. All in all it was a disasterous attempt at a post

 

[bruise]

ah see, I read it differently, in that she always gets to a point where she realises what she's been doing, and exposes herself and the ideology which led to those weaknesses (edit: wrong word btw - but I cant think of owt precise right now)

One thing I find about African American texts such as the ones I've mentioned, plus some of the male stuff, is a willingness to hold the hand up and say 'yeh, i fucked up, but I was believing in a certain thing at a certain time..I've thought about it now and I think somethin different..'

sure, i get that and with an inability to escape exploring a wider social reality (which is a good thing) which writers from a more priviliged / less contended experience might be more able to ignore

and i agree it starts very much like that and explores some deeply painful experiences with startling and clear-sighted honesty

but which later on just turns into a list of personal achievements. i guess if you read that without finding it irritating its a tale of redemption and still somehow liberating that as a black woman yadda yadda - or you could find it just buying into the same old american dream, albeit with an African-American take.

plus, i actually think the first is a novel (albeit the "thinly disguised autobiography" type) - but that the later books become 'mere' autobiography - which just isn't a type of book i happen to be interested in.

have you read the later ones? can you see what i mean?

anyway - i think she's been completely eclipsed by Toni Morrison

 

[bruise]

It is related to the insanity theme. It's the point of the book.

EDIT:



I was being sarcastic Not at you I mean. Just at the idea that anyone wouldn't get the 'insanity theme' and the fact it was linked to the roles society expected her to play.

why direct the sarcasm at me? without soujourner's later explanation his/her point didn't make sense to me, that's all. no biggy.

i think the yellow wallpaper lays on its theme with a trowel to be honest - it's hardly subtle

 

[Neva]

why direct the sarcasm at me?

It wasn't, that's why I didn't quote one of your posts. I just found the idea that people wouldn't understand the themes of The Yellow Wallpaper funny because, as you say, it makes them pretty clear.

 

[sojourner]

sure, i get that and with an inability to escape exploring a wider social reality (which is a good thing) which writers from a more priviliged / less contended experience might be more able to ignore

and i agree it starts very much like that and explores some deeply painful experiences with startling and clear-sighted honesty

but which later on just turns into a list of personal achievements. i guess if you read that without finding it irritating its a tale of redemption and still somehow liberating that as a black woman yadda yadda - or you could find it just buying into the same old american dream, albeit with an African-American take.

plus, i actually think the first is a novel (albeit the "thinly disguised autobiography" type) - but that the later books become 'mere' autobiography - which just isn't a type of book i happen to be interested in.

have you read the later ones? can you see what i mean?

anyway - i think she's been completely eclipsed by Toni Morrison

No, got to say, I found the personal achievements inspiring, built on what had come before. I loved how the personal was wove into the political (yeh, read all of the series, knocked me out), and I sort of see what you're saying about the first book...but let's not forget that the first documented a young life, that had little or no power but was grounded by a practical love ('wash as far as possible, and then wash possible' ). Autobiogs by their nature are selected writings about a life. The rest of the series documents a growing woman, a young mother, and was dominated by older and other (white) people via ideology. Less prone to a sentimental back look.

Toni Morrison depicted this sort of recall ^^ in Song of Solomon - which is one of the greatest books of all time, but I would never put one above the other, they all offer different insights

 

[sojourner]

why direct the sarcasm at me? without soujourner's later explanation his/her point didn't make sense to me, that's all. no biggy.

i think the yellow wallpaper lays on its theme with a trowel to be honest - it's hardly subtle

Well, I didn't get what was going on in the yellow wallpaper for years. I knew it was something to do with the husband, but didn't get it, until I read about it, and then it made so much sense.

Interpretation of any literature/art is a subjective thing. We can't all see the same things, and the creator doesn't set out to prove one thing..even if they try, it don't happen. Meaning lies with the reader.

 

[bruise]

Meaning lies with the reader.

i think you can take that 'reader response' thing too far. you couldn't read a deep emotional tragedy into an Enid Blyton book, say. the text sets up a space and a pace and a world within which, sure, different reactions are possible to an extent. readers bring different things to the party also, which is what i think you were reflecting on earlier talking about reading things at different ages

but there has to be some kind of limits to possible intepretation - plus writers are mostly aware (and work with) the fact that readers bring a range of likely connotations i'd have thought.

but, yeh, i was trying to pepper my comments with "imho" and respect different responses and reactions to books.

 

[forked brain]

Toni Morrison

 

[DotCommunist]

Brilliant female authors in fantasy and SF pretty rare, but I do advocate

Ursula le Guin

Whoever wrote 'come lucky april' and the prequels

And the lady who wrote a disturbing near future tale about a young woman in the rebublic of gilead. Damn my crappy memory!

 

[Chairman Meow]

Yeh. Out of interest, in case you didn't know (and I wouldn't like to patronise you), have you noticed that she's a mother and a wife?

I meant the insanity theme going on with the recommendations in general, not just the Yellow Wallpaper [By the way I wrote my dissertation on 'Women and Madness, with reference to the Yellow Wallpaper and The Bell Jar', so yeah, I know what its about]. So, no need to get arsey.

 

[Orang Utan]

Sorry to derail but which one is your all time fave?

ooh gosh, I dunno, I hate that sort of question. It's a toss up between Carter, Dickens, Dostoievsky, Ellroy, Eliot, Barnes and Dan Brown. ps one of these is a lie. Guess which?

 

[sojourner]

I meant the insanity theme going on with the recommendations in general, not just the Yellow Wallpaper [By the way I wrote my dissertation on 'Women and Madness, with reference to the Yellow Wallpaper and The Bell Jar', so yeah, I know what its about]. So, no need to get arsey.

Whoa there! Hold yer fucking horses!! I was no way being arsey!! I'm shocked you even think that! Some people would notice and some wouldn't which is why I even put the disclaimer that I wasn't trying to patronise you. I myself didn't put 2 and 2 together when I first read it

 

[sojourner]

ooh gosh, I dunno, I hate that sort of question. It's a toss up between Carter, Dickens, Dostoievsky, Ellroy, Eliot, Barnes and Dan Brown. ps one of these is a lie. Guess which?

Ah, my mistake OU, I didn't express myself properly - I meant which of Angela Carter's books is your fave

 

[Guineveretoo]

And of course everyone should read The Lottery. Click the link and read it, even if you don't like it you'll only have wasted a few minutes.

I dutifully clicked the link, and then I even copied and pasted the text into notepad, because it is horrible and difficult to read with that background. But I really can't bear to read any more of it than the first few paragraphs, because it is so badly written and full of grammatical errors, that it hardly makes sense. Sorry.

 

[foo]

oooh i hadn't noticed this thread!

lots of good uns on here. when my head isn't filled with tuna and report writing, i'll try to come up with a few more.



p.s bruise, i can see what you're saying about reading Maya Angelou but my take on her stuff is similar to sojourner's.

 

[Chairman Meow]

Yeh. Out of interest, in case you didn't know (and I wouldn't like to patronise you), have you noticed that she's a mother and a wife?

This seemed kind of arsey to me, I mean, the whole story is about her situation as a wife and mother creating and feeding her depression. But, if you say it wasn't intended that way, fair enough.

 

[cesare]

For those who like Ursula Le Guin I'd recommend Sherri Tepper.