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

[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.