Feminism In Classic Literature

[Toney Talbot]

Someof the earlier works of classic feminist fiction presented here were considered shocking, and those that came later were still considered quite daring. All are essential works in the canon of feminist literature, and all are great reads.

As we read on, it becomes clear that the house is not the only thing strange about this story. The secluded, rented country home and the attic room the narrator inhabits come to represent or symbolize her situation and her very self.

The play follows the lives of seven Black women who are identifiable based on the colors of their dresses: Lady in Red, Lady in Orange, Lady in Blue, Lady in Brown, Lady in Yellow, Lady in Purple, and Lady in Green. The nameless women battle issues concerning love, empowerment, struggle, and loss throughout the play.

The history of the classic feminist novel is centred around women writing about women. At a time when female voices were scarcely heard, many women writers were quietly paving the way for modern feminism, using their literature as a platform.

Helen Graham escapes an abusive marriage with her small child and embarks on a fearless journey of self-discovery and romance. Deemed controversial upon publication, the story deals with feminist themes like domestic abuse, female autonomy, and the right to free will and happiness.

This classic feminist book captures what it meant to be an immigrant in early twentieth-century America. Cather successfully re-wrote the American female narrative through the lens of the frontier woman, breathing fresh life into the well-told pioneer chronicle.

The story focuses on a bold, independent woman who dominates a rugged landscape and outperforms her male counterparts. Headstrong and iron-willed, Alexandra Bergson is devoted to securing success for her loved ones after inheriting the family farm. Her pioneering spirit reflects the struggles of women in the American frontier through a prominently feminist representation of female strength and persistence.

The fiery blonde protagonist epitomises the newly independent woman of the 1920s: wearing tight clothes, keeping her hair short, and smoking in public. The work questions the dual motivation of men who pursue women for their beauty and women who pursue men for their money, revealing the hypocrisy and commodification behind social relationships.

Often marked as the first literary text to explore transgender characters, the tale follows the titular character over a period of 300 years as he miraculously transforms from a man into a woman. Challenging traditional gender roles and dismissing societal expectations, this classic feminist novel stands up to the idea of gender binaries and the constraints of the patriarchy.

Fridan, portrayed by Tracey Ullman in FX's Mrs. America, penned this 1963 bestseller that reinvigorated the feminist movement in America, highlighting the institutional issues that kept women at home.

Adapted into the Steven Spielberg directed film that earned Oprah an Oscar nomination, The Color Purple tells the tale of Celie, a young woman growing up in poverty in segregated Georgia. Despite suffering unimaginable hardship, eventually Celia finds her way back to the ones she loves in a lyrical, classic story.

Now a critically acclaimed television series on Hulu, Atwood's dystopian novel follows a handmaid named Offred who's subjected to life under the laws of a near-future North America called Gilead. The society follows the Bible's Book of Genesis verbatim, subjecting women to cruelty in the name of replenishing the diminished population.

This timeless feminist novel is a collection of speeches and essays by Black lesbian writer and poet Audre Lorde. Sister Outsider lyrically reflects on themes such as racism, class, and homophobia, ultimately pushing a message of hope.

Winner of 2018's Goodreads "Best Poetry," books, the witch doesn't burn in this one addresses feminism through a series of poems that encourage strength and perseverance amongst women, despite those who work to oppress them.

Inspired by the Tumblr account of the same name (and written by its founder), in the midst of 21st century meme culture that's made the sitting Supreme Court Justice internet famous, this books takes an intimate look at the importance and impact of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's life work.

An aptly hilarious autobiography, comedienne Tina Fey takes us from her nerdy youth all the way to her success as an SNL staple and star of NBC sitcom, 30 Rock. But in between, she reveals exactly what made her one of the industry's top names in comedy.

Named the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2014, Yousafazi's memoir lets us in on the story behind a young Pakistani girl who's hard fight against Taliban rule resulted in a near-fatal gunshot. Yousafazi is now a beacon of peace amongst the world's chaos.

In this thoughtful book, Dr. Ests explains the concept of the "Wild Woman," an archetype that's been laid out through the years of folk and a fairy tales. Plot twist: According to the author, we all have a little bit of the wild woman's natural instincts inside us.

Alta L. Price: Since we cannot talk about classical texts without addressing the concept of a canon, can you share with us your distillation of the literary traditions of the culture(s) and language you translate from?

Alta L. Price: What are the toughest challenges and most exciting opportunities of working with classical texts? Can you give an example of a particularly complex issue that arose as you were translating The Odyssey, The Conference of Birds, and The Ramayana?

Sholeh Wolp: These are dark times and this is an enlightening, nonjudgmental book that should be required reading for everyone. In its essence, The Conference of the Birds is a story about us, the human race. It is the story of the journey of the soul back to its source. The source is the Great Ocean, the Beloved. We can give it any other name but it remains itself, unknowable. Attar tells us that belief and unbelief are both irrelevant to the Wayfarers of the Path. All paths lead to the Beloved, and we each walk the path according to our own capacity. Complete annihilation of the ego (that carrier of self-righteousness and self-proclaimed truths) shortens the duration of the journey.

We are the birds in the story. All of us have our own ideas and ideals, our own fears and anxieties, as we hold on to our own version of the truth. Like the birds of this story, we may take flight together but the journey itself will be different for each of us. Attar tells us that truth is not static and that the path evolves as we evolve. Those who are trapped within their own dogma, clinging to hardened beliefs or faith, lengthen their journey toward the unfathomable Divine.

I would love easier access to The Tale of Genji, from eleventh-century Japan, and to Chinese classics like The Dream of the Red Chamber and Water Margin. By easier access, I mean new translations that are reasonably priced and available across the world. How fabulous it would be if these books were placed on the center tables of bookstores as works about humanity, rather than ghettoized in special sections for the exotic.

Emily Wilson is professor of classical studies and graduate chair of the program in comparative literature and literary theory at the University of Pennsylvania. In November 2017, W.W. Norton & Company published her translation of The Odyssey, the first known complete translation by a woman in English. Wilson attended Oxford University (Balliol College BA 1994 and Corpus Christi College MPhil 1996) and Yale University (PhD 2001). In 2006, she was named a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome in Renaissance and Early Modern Scholarship. She lives in Philadelphia with her three daughters and three cats. Follow Professor Wilson on Twitter @EmilyRCWilson.

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