I am riveted by these readings and your thoughts on them. I read and enjoyed Ann Radcliffe's books after learning that they inspired Jane Austen to write Northanger Abbey as a satire of the gothic while also an affectionate love letter to it, but I haven't read these other authors, nor did I know how interconnected they have been.
It's funny, I've been hoping that you would write something about that recent interview on Mad Moms with Rebecca Woolf because it upended me in so many different ways, yet I'm not sure I can write about those ways myself. In a way this is also a response to that -- for me -- because of the way it speaks to women's erasure and how women writers have had to cut off parts of themselves to fit male-dictated acceptable narrative frameworks.
I loved learning more about the gothic through Austen too. I was actually thinking a lot about that comment on Rebecca Woolf's great interview, because I agree--it feels like all of it is a rebuttal or the ways that women writers try to subvert the 'realism' that gatekeepers like James demanded, let alone those who diverge from a linear narrative. I keep thinking about the contrast between Penelope and Odysseus--the story that Penelope creates, weaving and unweaving, observing from her window, versus the hero having to leave home to chase after story....
I had a great English teacher my last year of high school who took The Odyssey really slowly. When we got to that part she had us break down and timeline each individual event, getting us to come to the realization ourselves that it was Penelope who strategized and defeated all those dudes refusing to leave her house. It’s still amazing to me that most of us never saw that truth without breaking it down and went along thinking it was Odysseus.
Oh how I love this issue Freya! I have always been mesmerised by horror written by women and delegated to bring to fruition by female characters. Even I fell in love with gothic while exploring the works of Bronte sisters as a teenager. This post is extremely well written and with such deep research, I love this. 💜🌼
I am riveted by these readings and your thoughts on them. I read and enjoyed Ann Radcliffe's books after learning that they inspired Jane Austen to write Northanger Abbey as a satire of the gothic while also an affectionate love letter to it, but I haven't read these other authors, nor did I know how interconnected they have been.
It's funny, I've been hoping that you would write something about that recent interview on Mad Moms with Rebecca Woolf because it upended me in so many different ways, yet I'm not sure I can write about those ways myself. In a way this is also a response to that -- for me -- because of the way it speaks to women's erasure and how women writers have had to cut off parts of themselves to fit male-dictated acceptable narrative frameworks.
I loved learning more about the gothic through Austen too. I was actually thinking a lot about that comment on Rebecca Woolf's great interview, because I agree--it feels like all of it is a rebuttal or the ways that women writers try to subvert the 'realism' that gatekeepers like James demanded, let alone those who diverge from a linear narrative. I keep thinking about the contrast between Penelope and Odysseus--the story that Penelope creates, weaving and unweaving, observing from her window, versus the hero having to leave home to chase after story....
I had a great English teacher my last year of high school who took The Odyssey really slowly. When we got to that part she had us break down and timeline each individual event, getting us to come to the realization ourselves that it was Penelope who strategized and defeated all those dudes refusing to leave her house. It’s still amazing to me that most of us never saw that truth without breaking it down and went along thinking it was Odysseus.
o! i love this! how fantastic to have such a teacher. 👏
Oh how I love this issue Freya! I have always been mesmerised by horror written by women and delegated to bring to fruition by female characters. Even I fell in love with gothic while exploring the works of Bronte sisters as a teenager. This post is extremely well written and with such deep research, I love this. 💜🌼
Thank you so much Swarnali--I love that you also fell in love with the gothic and can relate. 💜