Reading

[lizwilliams]

I have started Rachel Pollack's rather good new book on the Tarot. Fictionwise, I'm re-reading Zenna Henderson's People stories, published in a new collection. fjm put me onto this (and fjm, I did go ahead and order it!). She seems to get a lot of flack for mawkishness, and I can see this, but I also see her in a tradition of female North American writing - L M Montgomery comes to mind, who was a lot sharper and shrewder than she is given credit for. And part of me thinks that anyone who writes about, God forbid, education and decency, and who isn't hard-edged and clever-for-the-sake-of-it, will attract criticism. Especially someone female.

It's like quilts. Women do it within the context of a domestic sphere, so it can't be art. I think that view has changed a lot. I hope so.

Comments

[sugoll.livejournal.com]

I *adore* the People stories. I know some people put them down as being naive, but to me, they're more _innocent_. And they hold within them a sense of wonderment that is joyful to behold - especially when everything else is so busy being bitter.

Been years since I last read 'em, though.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Me too: both "used to adore" and "haven't re-read in years" - a bit nervous, in case they were as sweet as I remembered without also being as good. Maybe the time has come, then...

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Go read them, because I am a nasty cynical bitter twisted old crone (well, OK, perhaps I take that as a compliment), but they actually do hold up. Like Montgomery and Alcott, there is a degree of bracing acerbity within the writing which stops it from seeping into sentimentality.

[fjm.livejournal.com]

My first article which didn't begin life as assessed work was on Subcommittee, and my basic argument was "Women do it within the context of the domestic sphere' only the "it" was politics.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's another sphere of reference. I used to work in the voluntary sector for a women's centre, which has been running on a voluntary basis for 25+ years now - still mark this as one of the most successful things (team effort-wise) I've ever done.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. L M Montgomery. I -wish- I could write like her. :)

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Not the only one. I love her stuff and it still stays with me.

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

Pollack has a new tarot book? Will you share your impressions when you've finished? I'm deeply fond of Seventy-eight Degrees of Wisdom, myself.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

It's called 'Seeker', IIRC. I picked it up the other day, flicked through it, learned something new and thought: right, I'm reading this. I'm teaching T to read tarot (or, rather, eliciting what T already knows) so it's timely.