Reading Russ
Dec. 31st, 2007 08:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bibliogrammaDemand My Writing: Joanna Russ, Feminism, Science Fiction, Jeanne Cortiel
A fascinating study of Joanna Russ’ fictional works (which also pays some attention to her critical and feminist non-fiction writing, but primarily as the themes she addresses inform a feminist and science fictional understanding of her creative oeuvre). Cortiel constructs her analysis around two distinct but interwoven frameworks: first, three major concerns - women's agency, female sexuality, and the indeterminacy of both these categories – that she sees as running throughout Russ’s work, and second, three generations in 20th century feminism (as described by Julia Kristeva) - the radical, materialist feminism of the late 60s and early 70s, the separatist, essentialist feminism of the late 70s and early 80s, and the post-structuralist feminism of the late 80s and 90s.
Reading this study has given me a much deeper appreciation of Russ, both as a writer and as a pioneer of modern feminism.
A fascinating study of Joanna Russ’ fictional works (which also pays some attention to her critical and feminist non-fiction writing, but primarily as the themes she addresses inform a feminist and science fictional understanding of her creative oeuvre). Cortiel constructs her analysis around two distinct but interwoven frameworks: first, three major concerns - women's agency, female sexuality, and the indeterminacy of both these categories – that she sees as running throughout Russ’s work, and second, three generations in 20th century feminism (as described by Julia Kristeva) - the radical, materialist feminism of the late 60s and early 70s, the separatist, essentialist feminism of the late 70s and early 80s, and the post-structuralist feminism of the late 80s and 90s.
Reading this study has given me a much deeper appreciation of Russ, both as a writer and as a pioneer of modern feminism.