The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
Lesbian and/or Feminist Literature and Writing
Lumière:
I just finished reading another anthology:
From Publishers Weekly [amazon.ca]
Margins are ignored in this fine collection of fiction by 15 Canadian lesbians. Three of its authors have won Canada's highest literary honor, and readers will recognize authors such as Ann-Marie MacDonald (Fall on Your Knees, an Oprah pick) and Shani Mootoo (Cereus Blooms at Night). Themes of discovery and lost boundaries (sexual and otherwise) run through the anthology, and though the stories vary in quality, a sense of energy and newness pervades them. Standouts include Dionne Brand's contribution, an excerpt from In Another Place, Not Here that crackles with Caribbean authenticity; Nicole Brossard's treatise-like "State of Mind in the Garden"; and Karen X. Tulchinsky's "Ruined by Love," a road story set on the west coast.
There were one or two stories that did little for me, but for the most part - I really enjoyed it, especially entries by Karen X. Tulchinsky, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Anne Fleming, Shani Mootoo... to name a handful. :)
I am currently reading a collection of stories by Emma Donoghue (love her writing) called: Touchy Subjects.
Amazon.ca:
How do you make conversation with a sperm donor? How do you say someone's novel is drivel? Would you give a screaming baby brandy? In what words would you tell your girlfriend to pluck a hair on her chin?
Touchy Subjects is about things that make people wince: taboos, controversies, secrets and lies. Some of the events that characters crash into are grand, tragic ones: miscarriage, overdose, missing persons, a mother who deserts her children. Other topics, like religion and money, are not inherently taboo, but they can cause acute discomfort because people disagree so vehemently. Many of these stories are about the spectrum of constrained, convoluted feeling that runs from awkwardness through embarrassment to shame.
I have only read the first story at this point; was laughing through half of it. Fun so far. :)
Brown Eyes:
Heya M!
Thanks for keeping this great thread going with these recommendations! I'm busily compiling book shopping lists with the help of this thread. :)
I'm still in the midst of reading Lonesome Dove... I'm at about page 500 at the moment. So, it's going pretty fast actually. Hopefully I'll be done with it in a week or so (my copy has 945 pages). When I'm done, I really do think I'll probably read an anthology of lesbian short stories. That sounds really appealing to me at the moment.
But, just to keep my contributions to this thread going I thought I'd post about a book and movie that I think are really wonderful, and definitely deserve a place on this thread. I think we've talked about this before somewhere on BetterMost... but, again, it really needs to be on this thread.
The non-fiction book is Aimee and Jaguar by Erica Fischer (1994) and is the true story of a Jewish woman (Felice Schragenheim) and the wife of a Nazi officer (Lilly Wust) who fall in love in Germany during WWII. It's an absolutely incredible story.
<img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/1513074-200.jpg" border="0" />
This is a picture of Felice and Lilly from the cover of the book that I have. There are many fascinating photos included in the book.
And, there was a truly wonderful movie made of this, also called Aimee and Jaguar (1998). It documents all sorts of tragedy that occured during the Holocaust era, but it also provides a really fascinating glimpse or representation of lesbian culture in mid-20th century Berlin. And, while tragic, it's also really romantic. The movie is in German (with subtitles).
<img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/1540107-6c7.jpg" border="0" />
<img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/midsize/1540109-9be.jpg" border="0" />
<img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/1540108-917.gif" border="0" />
Lumière:
Hey A,
Aimée & Jaguar is most certainly worth checking out. I haven't read the book, but I own the DVD.
The movie was really well done; and like you said, it is fascinating to take a peek into the lesbian culture in Berlin at the time.
Thanks for bringing it in here, bud.
I think I'll take it off the shelf for another viewing one of these evenings. :)
Amazon.com
In 1943, while the Allies are bombing Berlin and the Gestapo is purging the capital of Jews, a dangerous love affair blossoms between two women. One of them, Lilly Wust (Juliane Köhler), married and the mother of four sons, enjoys the privileges of her stature as an exemplar of Nazi motherhood. For her, this affair will be the most decisive experience of her life. For the other woman, Felice Schragenheim (Maria Schrader), a Jewess and member of the underground, their love fuels her with the hope that she will survive. A half-century later, Lilly Wust told her incredible story to writer Erica Fischer, and thebook, AIMEE & JAGUAR, first published in 1994 immediately became a bestseller and has since been translated into eleven languages. Max Färberböck's debut film, based on Fischer's book, is the true story of this extraordinary relationship. The film was nominated for a 1999 Golden Globe Award and was Germany's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Both actresses received Silver Bears at the 1999 Berlin International Film Festival for their portrayals of "Aimée" and "Jaguar".
Front-Ranger:
Over the weekend I read a good story by Louise Erditch that was in a year-old edition of The New Yorker. I'm a little out of date on my TNY reading, LOL. It was about a Canadian Native lesbian woman.
Lumière:
Hey Lee, :)
I have heard of her but I have not read any of her work yet.
What is the title of the story you read?
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