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 33
... woman as among the wise . You were the morning star among the living ( the young Plato , poet and Athenian , wrote of a friend he had lost ) , you were the morning star before you died ; now you are ' as Hesperus , giving new splendour ...
... woman as among the wise . You were the morning star among the living ( the young Plato , poet and Athenian , wrote of a friend he had lost ) , you were the morning star before you died ; now you are ' as Hesperus , giving new splendour ...
Page 73
... woman's life is that ; and how little can a man know even of that when he observes it through the black or rosy spectacles which sex puts upon his nose . Hence , perhaps , the peculiar nature of woman in fiction ; the astonishing ...
... woman's life is that ; and how little can a man know even of that when he observes it through the black or rosy spectacles which sex puts upon his nose . Hence , perhaps , the peculiar nature of woman in fiction ; the astonishing ...
Page 133
... woman , apparently passive , apparently receptive , there rose a taut and anxious shadow , the shadow of the woman bicycling too fast ; who , to relieve her insecurity , plunges forward as the desperado does and is defeated because this ...
... woman , apparently passive , apparently receptive , there rose a taut and anxious shadow , the shadow of the woman bicycling too fast ; who , to relieve her insecurity , plunges forward as the desperado does and is defeated because this ...
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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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 JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS 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 mother mouth never NICOLE BROSSARD night Ogilvy's Picasso 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