tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823566120008734481.post6571973046794105743..comments2023-06-27T11:13:08.767+01:00Comments on The Book of the Witch: The Search is on for the REAL Top-10 Feminist Literary IconsVan Badhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109107019033445325noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823566120008734481.post-39178484632415226522010-11-07T07:02:58.380+00:002010-11-07T07:02:58.380+00:00The 'Library Science Degree' list is a st...The 'Library Science Degree' list is a strange one -- not so much a list of feminist icons in literature as memorable female characters -- maybe...<br /><br />I guess the problem with feminist icons in literature is that there aren't many. I can think of a lot more in film, TV etc, but most female characters in fiction that I can think of are either victims of patriarchal oppression to the point that they are forced into submission, or they are beholden to men in such a way that they pay a price for resisting submission -- usually a huge one. <br /><br />Examples are Tess in Hardy's 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles', a truly feminist classic. She's rooted from the start, exploited and powerless, and although she initially has the will to resist, it is overcome by a will to survive, but all hell breaks loose. Similarly, Anna Karenina might have had the courage to rebel, but she pays the ultimate price. <br /><br />And then there's one of my favourites, Atwood's 'The Robber Bride' where three relatively modern women are almost brought undone by the feminist antiheroine and saboteuse, Zenia -- a woman who preys on their insecurities and for the most part succeeds in stealing their men, who they are arguably better off without. Either way, regardless of their class or educational status, all of these women are compromised.<br /><br />My favourite feminist icon is Lilith. Another bitch/whore Goddess who was systematically demonized by the patriarchy. The myth of Lilith was that she was Adam's first wife who refused to take the lower position during sex. As a result she was banished from Eden to inhabit the night and blamed from then on for arousing lust in men and causing the death of infants. Truly! In other words, women shouldn't ever ask for equality or they'll be blamed for every catastrophe under the stars. However, I'm quite fond of the myth of Lilith, because she didn't compromise, and the patriarchal resistance to her shows how powerful a woman can be when she stops caring about whether people think she's 'nice'.<br /><br />Nice rant on Ayn Rand, btw. I tried posting something on the First Tuesday Book Club about Atlas Shrugged -- how it was written in the style of a DC Comic, but with a million times the word count and no pictures -- but they didn't put it up. Bastards.Eirinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15597127671806041321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823566120008734481.post-71620886788162706692010-10-22T12:16:11.176+01:002010-10-22T12:16:11.176+01:00From the land of crime fiction, you can't go p...From the land of crime fiction, you can't go past V.I. Warshawski as a feminist literary icon (or her creator the equally feisty and fabulous Sara Paretsky).<br /><br />V.I. has been fighting the good fight on the mean streets of Chicago since the 1980s, working on behalf of the powerless, exposing corrupt institutions and political operators.<br /><br />Sara gets huge kudos from me for writing another character in VI's world. VI's best friend Dr. Charlotte “Lotty” Herschel is a recurring character who runs a family planning clinic for women on low incomes where she offers abortion services. In one novel her clinic is attacked by a radical right to life group, VI standing at her side helps her to defend it. <br /><br />It's rare and getting rarer to see abortion presented at all in fiction or movies, but Sara Paretsky and VI refuse to shy away from it.P.M.Newtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08824714562191562113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823566120008734481.post-9460603151804734732010-10-21T12:02:40.375+01:002010-10-21T12:02:40.375+01:00oh oh! what about Laura in Getting of Wisdom and D...oh oh! what about Laura in Getting of Wisdom and Dolour Darcy in Harp in the South and of course Beatie Bow!melitarowstonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10177037698190289098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823566120008734481.post-13434909088410350332010-10-20T04:56:40.385+01:002010-10-20T04:56:40.385+01:00Hey Van,
Suggestions suggestions. Here's five...Hey Van,<br /><br />Suggestions suggestions. Here's five, but I am not sure if they are my top five or not. I don't think it is an accident that all of the authors below are female too. <br /><br />1) Sethe from Beloved by Toni Morrison<br />2) Alice B Toklas - from The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas by Gertrude Stein<br />3) Teresa from For Love Alone by Christina Stead<br />4) Ginny from A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley.<br />5) Orlando from Orlando by Virginia Woolf<br /><br />I think my first is a no brainer, she should go straight to the shortlist.<br /><br />But the second-fifth might be more contentious. I understand your criteria is chracter-based, but a novel is more than a character (as you would know!). So, I think that the character needs to be considered within the novel, rather than the individual characteristics of the character valued by an independent feminist yardstick as though somehow magically divorced from the context of the novel's plot (and author). What the character does within the novel, and to what ends within the novel itself, should be factored into the criteria. I say this because...<br /><br />2) Oh Alice. Gertie was a massive patriarch herself. She wrote her own girlfriend's autobiography! But there are so many reasons this novel should be on the list. Let me know how many reasons you would like. <br /><br />3) This classically underrated Australian novel charts Teresa's monomaniacal pursuit of a man who does not love her, but her dogged determination becomes historical. Her pursuit becomes a quest for knowledge. The novel is about what SHE wants. Indeed, it takes the pursuit to such an extreme it could be read as a critique of the trope of the monomaniacal pursuit itself. She's a feminist in a particular context. <br /><br />4) Ginny is a wife, a daughter, and a victim of abuse. But, Smiley's novel is a retelling of King Lear, which is why I think she is a real contender for this list. Lear is such a well known story, and Goneril is such a widely demonised character. Here, we get Lear from the perspective of Goneril the evil daughter. And, things look a little different. We see a woman trying to make her self fit the social order, sure, but we also are provoked to reimagine the status one of drama's most revered tragic patriarchs. <br /><br />5) Well, I guess the reason Orlando is contentious that the character is not a woman the whole way through the novel. But, sex and gender are complicated! I think Orlando should be on the list. <br /><br />And, I do love Alexandra from O Pioneers.<br /><br />Love Jen xxJenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16189551841463263896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823566120008734481.post-14472873333602284112010-10-20T01:27:51.419+01:002010-10-20T01:27:51.419+01:00I'd agree with Lizabelle on the Pratchett, alt...I'd agree with Lizabelle on the Pratchett, although I'd go so far as to suggest the whole witches coven. <br /><br />Also, Nell from Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primerdatakidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12170965618195277498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823566120008734481.post-21499688466375790252010-10-20T00:22:58.033+01:002010-10-20T00:22:58.033+01:00I love this post! (And it's lovely to see so m...I love this post! (And it's lovely to see so many LM Montgomery heroines in the list already.)<br /><br />Another couple of suggestions for the list: Cordelia Naismith from Shards of Honor (and sequels - the Vorkosigan series) by Lois McMaster Bujold.<br /><br />Many Terry Pratchett women, like Tiffany Aching in The Wee Free Men, Susan Sto Helit in Hogfather and Granny Weatherwax, whose response to any stupidity is that she "can't be havin' with this."Lizabellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16196854415468341525noreply@blogger.com