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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Results 1-3 of 27
Page 25
... round my neck . Every bird upon the bulging frieze broke into song . Every rose upon the tattered paper budded and formed into blossom . Yes , even the green vine upon the bed curtains wreathed itself into strange chaplets and garlands ...
... round my neck . Every bird upon the bulging frieze broke into song . Every rose upon the tattered paper budded and formed into blossom . Yes , even the green vine upon the bed curtains wreathed itself into strange chaplets and garlands ...
Page 112
... round the edges of the sari and the part which made up the long skirt . I wore the sari over my head and managed the clinging folds well enough . But there was no doubt who was the belle of the ball . Cécile , a lovely and complacent ...
... round the edges of the sari and the part which made up the long skirt . I wore the sari over my head and managed the clinging folds well enough . But there was no doubt who was the belle of the ball . Cécile , a lovely and complacent ...
Page 421
... round and round the island , just outside the one mile exclusion zone . He points out famous lesbians to sight - seers who always say , ' But she's so attractive ! ' or ' She's so ugly ! ' ' Yeah , ' says Phaeon , ' and you know what ...
... round and round the island , just outside the one mile exclusion zone . He points out famous lesbians to sight - seers who always say , ' But she's so attractive ! ' or ' She's so ugly ! ' ' Yeah , ' says Phaeon , ' and you know what ...
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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