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 xxvi
... coming - out story came into its own . Of course it has its place . Young people in our culture are not encouraged to identify themselves as gay . So for many women and men the process of acknowledging their sexuality is very closely ...
... coming - out story came into its own . Of course it has its place . Young people in our culture are not encouraged to identify themselves as gay . So for many women and men the process of acknowledging their sexuality is very closely ...
Page 3
... coming war for patriotism and a new freedom had hardly yet begun . The dull interior , the changed life of the old house , whose former activities seemed to have fallen sound asleep , really typified these larger conditions , and a ...
... coming war for patriotism and a new freedom had hardly yet begun . The dull interior , the changed life of the old house , whose former activities seemed to have fallen sound asleep , really typified these larger conditions , and a ...
Page 369
... coming back to them . Where I live now is also a city full of boys , and , coming here , I passed through hundreds of cities and they were all full of boys . ' Boys , ' she tells me , ' are uninteresting , and when they grow up , they ...
... coming back to them . Where I live now is also a city full of boys , and , coming here , I passed through hundreds of cities and they were all full of boys . ' Boys , ' she tells me , ' are uninteresting , and when they grow up , they ...
Contents
SARAH ORNE JEWETT Marthas Lady 1897 | 1 |
RENÉE VIVIEN Prince Charming 1904 translated | 20 |
The Wise Sappho c 191618 | 26 |
Copyright | |
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Adrienne Rich Alison Bechdel arms asked beautiful Beebo blood body breasts butch butch and femme Charlotte Mews dance dark daughter Delia Djuna Djuna Barnes door Dorothy Allison dress Emma Donoghue eyes face feel felt fingers friends Georgine Skeene girl hair hand head heard heart Helen Furr Helena husband Iduna JEANETTE WINTERSON KATHY ACKER Kerry kissed knew lady laughed Laura leaned legs lesbian Letty light Lillian lips living Lizzy looked lover Marcie Margaret Martha Miss Ogilvy Miss Pyne Mistress Mary MONIQUE WITTIG mother mouth never NICOLE BROSSARD night Ogilvy's Picasso pulled Renée Vivien Sappho seemed sleep smiled soft someone stay stood story sweet talk tell things thought told took turned voice wait walked watch wheat roll window woman women words writing young