The Penguin Book of Lesbian Short StoriesMargaret Reynolds And more than that - sometimes women love women. Like Queen Victoria, the world has preferred to believe that sex between women is impossible, resulting in a long silence between the writings of Sappho and the flowering of talent produced by feminism and the sexual revolution. Lesbian writing has come a long way since Virginia Woolf's famous essay of 1928. Since then women have challenged traditional forms of expression and subject matter in an extraordinarily rich and varied discourse to give voice to the lesbian imagination. In this wide-ranging anthology, Margaret Reynolds has brought together the work of thirty-two women from Britain, continental Europe, and the Americas - including three specially commissioned pieces - that covers nearly a century of lesbian writing, from Sarah Orne Jewett (1897) to Jeanette Winterson (1993). The collection ranges from Frances Gapper's pastiche of a Romantic melodrama, through the wry humor of Merril Mushroom's description of butch and femme courting rituals, to the wit of Alison Bechdel's cartoon strip. The anxiety of unresolved desire is present in many stories - Radclyffe Hall's Miss Ogilvy is unable truly to find herself in this world, Djuna and Lillian hold back from each other in Anais Nin's "Cities of the Interior", and the energy and commitment that should go into a loving relationship are stifled by convention in Jane Rule's story of passion outside marriage. But here are brave spirits, too - Renee Vivien's Sarolta and her Prince(ss) live forever in a vision of ideal tenderness, Colette's heroines preserve the sanctity of their little white bed, and Jewelle Gomez's bulldagger society survives far from the haunts of men. There arecoming-out stories, stories about cross-dressing, vampire tales, science fiction, parody, and romance. Each story is quite different from the others, yet each acknowledges a particular facet of lesbian history and makes it real. |
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Page 111
... dress ball . Oh , yes , it was exactly like all other girls ' school fancy - dress balls . There was a day's disorganization , while the dresses were being made and we were allowed to run about as we would into each other's rooms ...
... dress ball . Oh , yes , it was exactly like all other girls ' school fancy - dress balls . There was a day's disorganization , while the dresses were being made and we were allowed to run about as we would into each other's rooms ...
Page 124
... dress her child out of her own substance , Lillian became the lover who wanted to slip the shoes and slippers on the beloved's feet so he could contain these feet . The dresses were not chosen as Djuna's dresses , but as Lillian's ...
... dress her child out of her own substance , Lillian became the lover who wanted to slip the shoes and slippers on the beloved's feet so he could contain these feet . The dresses were not chosen as Djuna's dresses , but as Lillian's ...
Page 411
... dress I would wear , into the walled room and found deodorant Kotexes in a plastic garbage pail . They don't hurt the way that Tampaxes do . Now that I no longer smell , I can decide what I am going to wear . I have learned from Rodney ...
... dress I would wear , into the walled room and found deodorant Kotexes in a plastic garbage pail . They don't hurt the way that Tampaxes do . Now that I no longer smell , I can decide what I am going to wear . I have learned from Rodney ...
Contents
SARAH ORNE JEWETT Marthas Lady 1897 I | 1 |
RENÉE VIVIEN Prince Charming 1904 translated | 20 |
The Wise Sappho c 191618 | 26 |
Copyright | |
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