Women's Review of Books
Nov. 22nd, 2004 07:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
susanstinsonUnless there's an unexpected revival, December '04 is the last issue of the Women's Review of Books. At some point, I might come up with something thoughtful to say about that -- it's a complicated loss that's part of the crumbling over the past decade and a half of the highly imperfect but vital networks of women's presses, magazines and bookstores which shaped my early vision of what I could imagine saying as a writer.
And there's a review, by Mary Titus in this last issue, of Venus of Chalk along with The Strange History of Suzanne LaFleshe and Other Stories of Women and Fatness, edited by Susan Koppelman. There are a couple of factual errors. Venus of Chalk, as those of you who have been playing along at home may know, is my third novel, not my first. "Magnetic Force," my story that is in The Strange History of Suzanne LaFleshe, was originally published in Belly Songs, which came out in 1993, and isn't associated for me at all with Venus of Chalk, although it does draw on swimming pool experiences that I've had at fat feminist conferences over the years, which have also inspired new work. (What can I say, those pools are intense.)
But I love the review, especially that she calls the novel "an able and lovely work of picaresque fiction" and says that the book convinced her "that fat hatred could be completely overcome." And her comparison of Carline, the narrator, to a heroine in a gothic novel is pretty funny, if you happen to be acquainted with Carline.
Hit the link, click on the table of contents, and scroll down past a bunch of great stuff -- including a review by Rebecca Johnson of both a new biography and a collection of conversations with Audre Lorde -- to find the review.
Okay, now I've really, really, really got to pack.
And there's a review, by Mary Titus in this last issue, of Venus of Chalk along with The Strange History of Suzanne LaFleshe and Other Stories of Women and Fatness, edited by Susan Koppelman. There are a couple of factual errors. Venus of Chalk, as those of you who have been playing along at home may know, is my third novel, not my first. "Magnetic Force," my story that is in The Strange History of Suzanne LaFleshe, was originally published in Belly Songs, which came out in 1993, and isn't associated for me at all with Venus of Chalk, although it does draw on swimming pool experiences that I've had at fat feminist conferences over the years, which have also inspired new work. (What can I say, those pools are intense.)
But I love the review, especially that she calls the novel "an able and lovely work of picaresque fiction" and says that the book convinced her "that fat hatred could be completely overcome." And her comparison of Carline, the narrator, to a heroine in a gothic novel is pretty funny, if you happen to be acquainted with Carline.
Hit the link, click on the table of contents, and scroll down past a bunch of great stuff -- including a review by Rebecca Johnson of both a new biography and a collection of conversations with Audre Lorde -- to find the review.
Okay, now I've really, really, really got to pack.