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 38
... things , little things in ways of being gay , they were very regular then , they were learning very many little things in ways of being gay , they were being gay and using these little things they were learning to have to be gay with ...
... things , little things in ways of being gay , they were very regular then , they were learning very many little things in ways of being gay , they were being gay and using these little things they were learning to have to be gay with ...
Page 61
... thing to say ! " " Oh Fie , and why not ! " said Patience sipping a cognac . " Were it not for them , you would not be half so pleased with things as they are . Delight is always a little running of the Blood in Channels astray ...
... thing to say ! " " Oh Fie , and why not ! " said Patience sipping a cognac . " Were it not for them , you would not be half so pleased with things as they are . Delight is always a little running of the Blood in Channels astray ...
Page 369
... thing I left , like all the things that trail behind us when we go from place to place , from birth to birth , from becoming to becoming . She is just another bread crumb , just another mother in the long series of mothers that let you ...
... thing I left , like all the things that trail behind us when we go from place to place , from birth to birth , from becoming to becoming . She is just another bread crumb , just another mother in the long series of mothers that let you ...
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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