Feminism in Fiction

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This look at feminism in post-1900 literature has two timely inspirations: Margaret Atwood and…Donald Trump.

I just read The Testaments, Ms. Atwood’s excellent 2019 sequel to 1985’s The Handmaid’s Tale. And sore loser Trump is about to (hopefully) leave the White House this Wednesday, January 20.

Trump has been rightly criticized for many things during his dumpster fire of a presidency. The lies, the criminality, the incompetence, the cruelty, the blatant racism, the homophobia, and more. So, it can get a bit lost just how misogynist Trump and his ilk have also been.

There are the more than 20 credible pre-presidency rape and other sexual misconduct allegations against Trump, the crudely sexist remarks, the pathetically few women he named to top administration positions, etc. Of course, amid Trump’s toxic machismo, the females in Trump’s mostly male orbit have been awful in their own right — including wife Melania, daughter Ivanka, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, former education secretary Betsy DeVos, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, and others. Complicit, complicit, complicit.

The fictional Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments feels like an extreme (?) version of the far-right Trump/far-right Republican/far-right evangelical vision for America. Atwood’s authoritarian fictional republic has made women second-class citizens — stripping the older ones of their former professions, not allowing the younger ones to have intellectual jobs, forcing teen girls into marriages with much older men, and other patriarchal outrages that of course include Gilead’s handmaid system of child-bearers with no rights. There’s also all kinds of corruption and violence. One of Atwood’s accomplishments in both The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments is creating unforgettable women characters who either fight against the system (overtly or subtly) or come to grudgingly accept it (under duress). Also impressive is that Atwood is near the top of her writing game in the sequel despite her turning 80 the year it was published. My only significant criticism of The Testaments is that its nail-biting conclusion is too short.

Anyway, I’m limiting this piece to post-1900 literature with feminist elements because I covered many earlier novels with such elements in this 2018 post. There are many novels I can discuss, but I’ll focus on just a few.

The title alone of Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen tells the reader that the 1974 novel will have feminist aspects. Its protagonist, Adah, is a smart and resourceful woman who battles sexism from society and her husband in an effort to get the education she desires and do the work she wants to do. She moves from Nigeria to England, but both places are frequently not hospitable for ambitious women. Racism is in the mix as well.

Both sexism and racism are also faced by characters in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple (1982).

Women taking leadership roles is obviously a feminist thing, and we see that in Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower. That novel’s leader is Lauren Oya Olamina, whose take-charge personality is sorely needed in a society that has crumbled due to climate change, huge economic inequality, and corporate greed. (Do those three mega-problems ring a bell? This prescient science-fiction book was published in 1993.) Lauren even founds a new religion of sorts!

Eliza Sommers, the Chilean protagonist in Isabel Allende’s Daughter of Fortune, goes to mid-19th-century California against her parents’ wishes and even spends much of the 1998 novel disguised as a man in order to live more freely.

Looking back at a 1910-published novel, Colette’s The Vagabond features music-hall dancer Renee Nere and the very familiar push-and-pull on her life between work and romance.

There are also feminist novels that at least partly focus on the right of women to make independent decisions about sexual matters — with two examples being Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying and Rita Mae Brown’s lesbian-focused Rubyfruit Jungle. Both, coincidentally, published in 1973. Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (1987) also deals compellingly with a lesbian relationship, albeit more-closeted in this case.

Women working in traditionally “male” professions is another mark of feminist novels, with Ms. Flagg offering a great example of that with the women World War II pilots in 2013’s The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion. (I wish “Women” rather than “Girl” was in that title, but “Girl” might have been used ironically.) There’s also a memorable Russian female WWII pilot in Kate Quinn’s The Huntress (2019).

Plus Claire Fraser of Diana Gabaldon’s 1991-launched Outlander series of time-travel novels is a medical doctor in both the 1960s (when that was relatively unusual for a woman) and during the 1700s (when that virtually never happened).

Women having control over their own bodies is certainly an aspect of feminism, meaning novels that sympathetically look at abortion fit this post’s theme. One example is John Irving’s The Cider House Rules from 1985 — the same publication year as The Handmaid’s Tale.

Your favorite 20th- or 21st-century novels with feminist elements?

My literary-trivia book is described and can be purchased here: Fascinating Facts About Famous Fiction Authors and the Greatest Novels of All Time.

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column for Baristanet.com. The latest piece — about my town’s reaction to the Trump-incited white riot at the U.S. Capitol building — is here.

148 thoughts on “Feminism in Fiction”

  1. Hi Dave,

    Glad you enjoyed my piloting blog. This is one of a two-part series that will conclude with an emergency landing without electrical power. It was quite a white knuckle event. I’m still wrapping my head around the narrative.

    Jim White

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  3. Hi Dave,

    The attached isn’t literary, but I thought of your Facebook bird photos when I came across this entry on Digg. You’re not the only one! https://mymodernmet.com/backyard-bird-photo-booth/?utm_source=digg

    Jim Made Up Stories

    On Tue, Mar 2, 2021 at 10:51 PM Dave Astor on Literature wrote:

    > ajoymunna commented: “”This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It > means we have tried for something.” See More their https://bit.ly/3sFK4EN” >

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    • Thanks for your comment, James! Love those amazing bird photos in your link!

      I don’t post bird photos on Facebook, though I do post many cat videos. 🙂 I think one or two of those videos had my cat watching birds. 🙂

      I’m puzzled about the “ajoymunna” comment you included, because that comment had nothing to do with the blog of mine that the comment was posted under. Is there a connection I’m missing? Thanks!

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  4. Feminism before feminism, in hopes the concept might hold the broadest possible examples, may include Flaubert’s novel Salammbo, the fictional daughter of Hamilcar Barca, her name the title of the novel. She takes it upon herself to take back a sacred veil from a mercenary who has stolen it from Tanis’ temple, but does not live long after. The mercenaries– who have briefly threatened the city over being denied their pay– through treachery, guile and force of arms are eventually beaten down, and Carthaginian order restored, the sacred veil restored to its rightful place. The penalty for touching the sacred veil is death without exception, so the priests have arranged a poisoning for the violator of the sacred: Salammbo, who dies in the midst of the city’s celebration.

    Salammbo seems a feminist before feminism in that she decides on her own to do what she can to secure the veil, taking action unseemly for a woman , much less a princess, and through action (a trait identified with the masculine), succeeds, though she is hardly above using her feminine wiles to confuse her enemies.

    As exotic and wildly fanciful as much of the novel may seem to the reader, “Salammbo” was founded in scholarship, deriving most of its plot and characters from Classical sources and contemporary (1862 is the pub date) archeology, as well as from Flaubert’s own impressions gathered during a trip to Tunisia.

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    • Thank you, jhNY! Sounds like a memorable novel, and you described it exceedingly well. I can definitely see the feminist elements. Interesting how some authors are SO associated with one book (“Madame Bovary” in Flaubert’s case) even as they wrote a number of other interesting works (“Salammbo” in Flaubert’s case).

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  6. Another great post by you. There is only one that I can add here. It is a writer of which was on your list to read. It took me a while to remember her name as it had been a library book. It is Radclyffe Hall -The W I’m sure you have read it by now.

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    • Thanks so much, Don!

      I’ve indeed very much wanted to read “The Well of Loneliness” since you and another commenter mentioned it, but it wasn’t at my library the last time I visited. Will definitely look next time.

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    • I didn’t get my whole post up. The Well Of Loneliness. I’m sure you have read it by now. I specifically had gotten it by its title. I have to say that she took a risk and had the courage since it was a taboo subject. She was definitely a pioneer to open a door since the book had been banned at one point. It was the single most famous lesbian novel. the novel definitely was close to heart. I can’t say if it was my first feminism novel but it had a nice flow and didn’t expect it to end the way it happened, but definitely a good ending.

      Here are two of my latest reads. Jack Kerouac – On The Road, and the Dharma Bums.Both good reads. Specifically, I liked the ending of Dharma Bums. Im getting other authors from the beat time period, such as William Burroughs.

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      • I agree, Don — writing a lesbian-themed novel in 1928 was an incredible act of courage at a time when homosexuality was unfortunately so closeted and vilified. (Not that things are completely open-minded now, but they’re better in a number of countries.)

        I read “On the Road” many years ago — a VERY memorable novel that was so reflective of “The Beat Generation” and the emerging counterculture.

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  7. Very interesting post, Dave.
    I hardly know where to begin, and where to go with my comment. This is a comment in a comments box, not an essay. Yet, the topic of feminism is piquing, and deserving of a lot of discussion.

    Margret Atwood – I applaud her messages in story telling, and am viciously proud that she is a Canadian. However, for the life of me, I don’t like her style of writing.

    You know, when Rob Ford ( our famous crack smoking mayor) became mayor of Toronto, he and his bro (who is now our premier), they wanted to save money by closing down our public libraries. Citizens were outraged. Torontonians LOVE our libraries. The Ford’s were inundated by “DON”T YOU DARES!
    Margret Atwood wrote an opinion on it. The 2 bros simultaneously asked…. paraphrasing – Who is Margret Atwood, anyway?
    The city, the country went nuts! Needless to say, our library system is alive and well.

    Yes, that was an anecdote.
    I know half of the writings you spoke of here. I adore the histories, therein.
    I’ll stop here, as I don’t feel like writing an essay, but have you read Nellie McLung’s 2 part biography?
    She is my feminist hero.
    Not fiction, just the facts.
    It’s a movie not yet made…. if ever.

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    • Thank you, Resa! I totally understand — people can have mixed feelings about various renowned authors. I do, too, in some cases. 🙂

      The fact that the Canadian politicians/brothers Ford either hadn’t heard of Margaret Atwood or were very dismissive of her reflects very badly on them — not Ms. Atwood. The two of them certainly seem Trump-like in certain ways.

      I have not read anything by or about Nellie McLung, but just googled the Wikipedia entry on her. What an amazing, complex person and life!

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      • The Fords (Rob passed a couple years ago) are very Trump like, although not prone to lying. Rob never lied about his drug use, that’s for sure. Sigh, Doug is our Premier now. He managed to get in just before the pandemic, so it’s difficult to judge his work.

        Nellie was instrumental in getting Canadian women the vote. Her autobiography(2 books written many many years apart)) is pretty great. I managed to get my hands on copies from the 1970’s. They were re edited in the early 2000’s and put into 1 volume.
        I like the older editions because I like all the old fashioned words and phrases, which were modernized in the new book.
        The first book is an amazing snapshot of being a pioneer. Her family moved (in a covered wagon drawn by oxen) to the Canadian prairies in the late 1800’s. Talk about a harsh life.
        The second book is more about her political life and suffragette movement. However I found her way too, modest; considering all she did and accomplished.
        Nice chatting!
        ….. and now to clean cat litter and bag garbage!

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        • Thank you for the follow-up comment, Resa! I guess not being prone to lying is one small redeeming trait in those two problematic Fords (one living, one dead). Trump’s lying was absolutely off the charts.

          That Nellie McLung autobiography sounds amazing — with your description reminding me a bit of Emma Goldman’s epic autobiography (on the political front) and Willa Cather’s novel “My Antonia” (which, in its early pages, describes the harsh life on the American prairie in the late 1800s). I would also prefer to read an autobiography as it was first written — old-fashioned words and phrases and all.

          Ah, cleaning cat litter — I know that task well. Thankfully, litter is much better nowadays than decades ago!

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          • Emma Goldman’s autobiography & Willa Cather’s novel sound fascinating. I’ll add those to my reading wish list. We have a great library system here, so I might be able to find them online in the library’s stash of gold, and do the curb pick up thing.
            I have to look into that. We are in a heavy lockdown mode, so even the library could be 100% closed.
            I do have lots to read. I’m not as well read as you, but as I have said to many people…I speed read at a turtle’s pace.
            Also, I find myself often opting to read works by my online pals. Shehanne Moore writes the best historical romances. There’s not much lust, lots of feisty love and a whole lot of historical info in the background. She does her homework.
            I was reading Ham On Rye by Bukowski.
            I never got to finish it, as I thought it contained book lice. I’m not kidding. There is such a thing. I wrapped it in plastic, and returned it with a note.
            Turned out it was a minor ant invasion (wee-est ants, barely visible). They were mining a flake of a cat crunchie.
            I’ll leave you with that wonderful image!

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            • Sorry about your lockdown mode, Resa. 😦

              My local library reopened a few months ago for 30-minute browsing, and it’s still offering that despite COVID cases rising. Will see if that continues.

              I haven’t read Shehanne Moore’s work (yet), but wonderful to hear it’s so good! I can tell by her blog posts and comments that she’s a terrific writer who does her research — and has a great sense of humor!

              Bugs in a borrowed book — ugh. That’s terrible. 😦

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  8. Hi Dave. Feminism plays a big role in my fiction. I often include strong female characters. They’re not always positive role models, but they’re always strong.
    Thanks for an informative article and I look forward keeping up with your diverse and interesting commentary.

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    • Thank you for the kind comment, James — and great that your fiction includes strong female characters! It’s to your credit that they’re not always positive role models, because that’s life. Heck, some memorable female characters in novels have not been the most admirable people — Zenia in Margaret Atwood’s “The Robber Bride,” Undine Spragg in Edith Wharton’s “The Custom of the Country,” Cathy Trask in John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden,” Lydia Gwilt in Wilkie Collins’ “Armadale,” etc., etc.!

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    • my books i started writing got drenched in a flood, the digital version on aq pc meaning the hard drives and the paper copy. i want to write and can’t see to get myself going. we go out and buy college ruled notebook paper and I put it in the three ring binder and set the pens by it and I cant get started and I’m apprehensive to write a manuscript on a pc do to internet related therfts that took place long ago. i sent, at one time three hand written books with illustrations to a prestige publishing company ion leeds new york of a kellty o’donnell and she kept the books to help her publishing company do to being hospitalized with breast cancer, when I heard that I stated keep the books to try to make some money for yourself. sent two children’s books and one novel. i cant replace all that time. yet I pray kelly is ok.

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      • There may be a chance that you have adjusted yourself, as a writer, to word processing, a digital medium that allows words to be replaced without erasing, sentences to be reworked without having to type an entire page, paragraphs to be moved from page to page, etc.

        I think I would be hard-pressed to return to pen and pad, or even typewriter, after all the years of word processing, and might find it hard to get going the old analog way myself.

        One way of saving whatever you write securely is to copy a day’s work, or the latest version of your output to an email as text, and send it as an email to yourself. So long as it’s marked ‘new’, on my email service, the text is always available– for years, if necessary.

        Hope this helps!

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        • My writing buddies and I often talk about the ways in which we get ideas down on paper. Many of us take a hybrid route, using pen and paper to capture fleeting thoughts and later transcribe the jottings to digital format. I have pads in every room. Working off some hand-written paragraphs may be tedious, but it sure beats staring at a blank screen. As for security, after losing everything once from a faulty hard drive, I’ve evolved to using Carbonite and Dropbox.

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  9. Thank you for supplying my next reading list! It’s always nice to stumble across a list like this, coming from a man. Women can scream and shout from the rooftops that their writing is equally as valuable as that from male writers. But they’re only 50% of the population, so it’s great when the the other half speaks up!

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    • Thanks so much for the kind comment, Rachel! 🙂 I greatly appreciate it.

      Any male reader of novels who doesn’t include many women authors in his reading mix is missing out big time. Some of my favorite hours with literature in recent years have been spent reading authors such as Margaret Atwood, Liane Moriarty, Zadie Smith, Donna Tartt, A.S. Byatt, Elsa Morante, Zora Neale Hurston, Colette, Willa Cather, Edith Wharton, George Eliot, Jane Austen, etc., etc.!

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      • thanks for liking my reply. im speed learning pc stuff just to catch up to what you probably do day to day in writing. Im really thankful you liked what I wrote. thank you.

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          • Do you write? I mean, are you an author or poet, or illustrator? The only real author she and I got to know was Scott Turow, he’s a lawyer, author and is going to have a movie come out I take it. We wrote to him about when our basement flooded and stated our losses, some being books that she and I were trying to collect for our older days to read. He asked me for my address information and sent two autographed books especially when we stated we rescued to of his books from a sale. WE keep those books in the living room, not in the basement so they don’t get wet or moisture-filled from the evaporating water if it ever rains. Yet the flood I’m speaking of was the 2008 flood in Illinois in October. Had to get a shop vac that ended up popping in the water level yet we could only afford an off brand cheap one at the time due to personal income and we sustained a picture of the smoke rising out from the vents of the shop vac. Yep! It was a thing to deal with. Had to replace the coil in the Kenmore 80 series dryer, had to eventually replace the washing machine, then the chuck Norris total gym began to show signs of rust from the flood, the desktop pc at the time got loaded with dehydrated water that we use to keep in a work station environment, my doctor oz painting I was trying to paint for him wrapped so I began a new one. There had been a series of things, so we began to learn preservation of our work and started buying lid sealing tote box type of things that have an actual seal in the lid with pull down clasps. I have to time my pains in my body so I gotta get off the bed and stretch my legs a bit. Write some more sir, I think its cool someone is writing to me. i had a cup of coffee by the way yet I know its 7:27pm at night.

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            • I’ve written two books — a memoir and one containing literary trivia — and have also been a freelance cartoonist.

              Very nice of Scott Turow to send two autographed books after your unfortunate basement flooding! When I was in a house back in 2011, we had major basement flooding during Hurricane Irene and had a lot of things ruined, so I know the feeling. 😦 Not a good feeling.

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              • Hurricane Irene, i know the hurricane. do ya find it kinda odd the amount of hurricanes that went into the same part of the gulf of Mexico last year right into around the same part of the land being Louisiana? i do, its uncommon. the one post I made of The Anthropocene Extinction or the extinction of every living thing on Earth you could find variables on the Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists and various other platforms. There are many types of things pertaining to Climate Change that happen to be very real. Independent studies had been matching ie NOAA.gov and variating weather reporters even places like The Weather Channel. If ya think outsider of the box, follow me on this, it pertgains to wave theory and actually using HARP ELF’s to alter weather in any given area. 15 years ago I was google earthing all the various antennas in mass clusters that push a radio bubble up into the atmosphere, so I have a comprehension of that science and it is possible.I’ve looked at heliophysics too in regards to anomalies caused in Earth’s atmosphere by the solar sun and including the Jupiter effect of planetary alignment. I’ver looked at how a quad-drillion vaqrrious waves manufactured by mobile phones and satellite and laptops and wifi and how it accelerates particles in the atmosphere.
                At one time I had a digital temomator when I use to be able to walk well and went and pointed it at car tail pipes to take thermal readings and its stunn ing how how gas exhaust pipes are, it really is as if you could do the math of how many automotive vehicles are driving around with the same kind of heat release it also further accelerators particles in the atmosphere that is a uncontrolled system, meaning the atmosphere, the atmosphere doesn’t have a road like a car and the air goes everywhere, antartica knows the same thing with the scientists there as does greeland, and Florida can feel it when they have like the high tides that have flooded areas much larger inland that became a live report each time on tv.
                a F-5 tornado happened to me in crest hill lakes apartments back in early 90’s. Irene, that was a cat 3 hurricane with 1221mph winds and a 14 billion dollar damage and losds of property. that was a very bad hurricane. One that had me puzzled was the hurricane that just hovered over the top of purterico or who ya spell the island. The duration and intensity of storms had been increasing. Its been happeneingon the other side of earth too. Yet America’zs weather is kinda special as America has two mountain ranges that create the natural weather we have.

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              • Go to: wwwTED.com and look up Al Gore the guy that use to be Vice President in The USA. He has a presentation thereof the global climate change of changes pertaining to human-related causes, partical pollutant is one of them yet so is deforestation. They bring up the stuff on COVID, man since there had been a severe decline in the Earth’s ecosystems it’s as if there is another germ or virus that comes out every other day “seemingly”. COVID, way long ago the china people stopped fishing in the yangzet river due to overly polluted. remember that is a country that wanted to modernize its land, so be it. Defforestization causes acidics to come up from the ground, and when they brought up the one drug I cant pronounce or spell properly that was related to malargia from mosquitos, those mosquitos wasn’t present in those forests when they got chopped down for places to makes buildings and roads and things like that. Animals have the same type of biology, “somewhat” like people do, they have a immune system and when their forest is cut down they cant eat their nutrition foods and end up usually eating the poop left behind of other animals in competition for foods do to there isn’t any more forest to live in and they migrate towards garbage cans, the yangzet riover when dead fowl get in the water and get ingested by bats or other animals the germs mutate and fast in polluted rivers, (its just something is as studying, yet I gotta go, my battery is stating to plug it in) write some notes down, at least try to find a way to be happy.

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              • If i knew how to put a picture of my cartoon stuff on here I was drawing, I would, yet do to contract I cant keep writing about my things and stuff do to I really was stolen from a few times in the past of intellectual property theft. Scott is a really good author!

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              • to help ya see, really do this experiment at home. Take an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper and set it on a flat surface. take other pieces of paper and ball them up and fill the one sheet with the paper balls on the sheet laying flat on a surface. The flat surface sheet should be completely filled with paper balls where the sheet cant be seen by the paper balled up balls on top of it. Imagination next. Imagine there are a tremendous amount of animals living in the balled up paper and take each balled up paper one at a time and think the animals are going to all go to one part of the forest where they can still eat fruits and berries. You will get to one balled up piece of paper still on that flat sheet. Leave it there, don’t remove it. All the animals that were in that entire flat sheet of paper inside all of the other balled-up pieces of paper are now all competing for food in an extremely small section of forest.

                In deforestations, there is an acidic that comes up from the ground. In the area where sars-covid-2 was mentioned that is an offspring of the original stars, first look up above of how this entire mess began. Deforestation does cause viruses and germs and diseases.

                The acidic that come up from the ground bring in the bad mosquitos that have malaria, the good mosquitos go somewhere else.

                all the animals in competition for food their immunities lessen drastically. along comes a malaria insect from deforestation and bites into an animal with low immunity. The bad news, it causes an eventual chair reaction of effects that mutate into viral strains.

                The strain mutates. The animals with an unknown virus goes into human areas and end up wanting to survive by eating human garbage that was left behind and or disposed of in the Yangtze River. The animals are hungry and even in the aquatic areas where the rivers are polluted the fish can’t even eat properly and get served onto a menu just like the other animals in areas also that don’t have a FDA.

                The Chinese government puts stops to fishing in the river yet their economy is bad and poor china guy goes to the forest as a farmer and catches a meal to feed his family and or to sell to their market, and it begins to migrate into the human sense.

                If ya put Google Earth on your laptop and hover over the top of Wuhan you could see where they stated the virus began. If ya fly over to other areas of land, one thing that comes into question is with all that farmland over there why do they keep asking America for the help of our farmer’s grains? Really, they got a ton of farms land over there, they also have junkyards just like America does, they also began to build many of their homes like people do in America. You’d be surprised at how many American cars they buy too.

                Yet if ya hover over Wuhan you can also hover over their University that has a lab that studies biology in the epicenter where it was stated it began.

                If ya go back to the very top of the article here, remember all the belled-up pieces of paper that were on the flat sheet of paper that was to resemble a flourishing forest that had all kinds of animals in amongst not to mention it sure was turning a ton of carbon into oxygen so there is fresh air.

                The animal’s soul needs for survival where the human race was pushing them into extinction by taking away their forests began all of this with the viruses. Remember mosquitos can transfer viruses and germs and disease. Mosquitos that bite into diseased animals can transfer that disease to other animals including bats or civet cats or dogs or ferrets.

                When new viruses come out, every lab on earth collects the viruses to study them. They remarked that it could have been genetically enhanced from the origin of stars. Who knows? Yet it was reported that Wuhan studies biological warfare.

                many people suffered from the above viruses, many had, many had perished and died. Economy’s had strained their selves. Anger had been seen being vented in all kinds of areas. people search for answers all the time to live and to help each other as a human race. The human race can not undermine what they had done to the areas where all the animals had lived and eaten. The virus is a natural cause and effect that took place long before it came out to be covid.

                I gotta check on my phone to see if it’s charged now. It takes four hours to charge yet about an hour to drain. Then I have to get ready for bed.

                by: Patrick

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        • Rita Mae Brown was an English Professor. I’ve read starting from scratch a few times where she mentioning her cat a lot. I’ve had the book ruby fruit jungle yet didn’t read it. it was a library check out at the time and had other things I was working on.

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                • Sneaky Pie, cat’s real name. Her cat is on one of the covers of her books. 30 years ago I use to read her books to learn how to read and write. i learned how to type to. i can type faster then your speediest typist, yet my typing has handicaps in grammar and spelling. in fact, you seem like a really cool person in comments and if you can help correct me where I’m wrong in spelling and grammar that would help. Its for self improvement. adaptation is slow lately because I’m trying to remember so much. i do want to write a book before I die like the first thing you commented on when I paid the $18 dollars to have a Word Press Account. Im not shy to criticism at all, I take criticism usually different then others especially if it is things I’ve personally studied on my own when other agencies needed someone to help them figure stuff out. my picture has me wearing a face mask, we just bought that at the store, yet thought id have a photo wearing a face mask to help promote safety, safety first ya know.

                  When the covid came out, I merely wrote in to office stating I only wanted to be a part of how to find how it started. I wrote to Donald J Trump, yet I wrote to Donald J Trump on my findings of American Technology was being stolen from a few places in China and managed to narrow the scope. There’s many things I know about what happened in each yet don’t have all the answers and many reports get scrubbed from the news do to the alarming truths. Yes, I voted for Donald J Trump. Yes, I’m a republican even if many in my two families or neighbors are democrats, I choose to be a conservative and I know many diverse ethnical back grounds that like republicans for their own reasons

                  Yet, many of the people that did the actual footwork in solving things didn’t get any merit nor credit what so ever of any kind of things reported on the news that is either spoken by government people or other allegedly smart or bright people or the left right stuff peop,le do in the conversations and writings or political choices that resemble how they really feel inside their own conscious.

                  There are things I hadn’t gotten any credit or merit nor award on for many things, Dave, many things. i was taken advantage of a number of times in the past and I feel that had altered my good nature of a normally happy guy that just wants to live and be happy and have my conflicts resolved for once or my things worked on so I could move forward to my goals and dreams.

                  In regards to many of the groups that rallied and or participated in various displacements acting out against authority ie portland oregon, I can comprehend them in a way most can’t or even the BLM people or the militia people at the white house. I am at my own stance. I can comprehend the issues brought up by those groups and have a lot to say, Sir. I have a lot to say about Government as well. I’m not angry with Government in one sense, yet when they lack resolve of issues persistent to cases or ways of life that had caused death towards many people throughout time, then there is enough to say that there isn’t room for humanity to bring fourth new light to hlp family’s and men and women in their own struggles, sadness that endures seemingly because agency’s or departments lack ability to change.

                  yet, many things you may feel was solved or worked on by people of notoriety that studied all their lives in colleges and was born with silver spoons in their mouths, in news media those people at times had credit for things that wasn’t even their credit, they just have a fancy college degree so other officials can state oh yeah it was that man or woman that solved it or worked on it that has the glorious college degree and has the bright smart family and comes from the rich part of the neighborhoods. Yet that same thing hadn’t applied to Donald J Trump wheni had written him his first year in office when i was tracking down how one of my inventions was being made in China. It was mad in China, it was made by myself in my Dad’s TV repair shop. It was written about on line ie facebook and twitter yet those two CEO’s have refused all resolve to remedy the issue pertaining to serious intellectual property theft. I’ve had serious intellectually property theft that happened to me of some things i made to improve upon the quality of life and I’m sitting here with so many medical problems where i could ha d used the money made from my own inventions to medically correct whats wrong with my own body.

                  Sir, i know your writing on this page, i think it’s a different type of form. I’m sorry if i don’t stick with content from the topic choice of the headline to this page or what have you. Writing helps me cope with things, I’m not too good at it as far as being a student that learned how to cross all the T’s and dotr all the I’s, yet when i wrote to Donald J Trump he did have my claim investigated of intellectual property thefts, i pin pointed the exact area on a normal desk globe and then sent him the corordinates and he found stuff out that was depriving the American people of $600,000,000,000 billion dollars annually year after year the past 40 years. He sent his report to Lou Dobbs. I think dobbs e-mail is lou@loudobbs.com.

                  Yet, when i grew up, PC’s were only beginning to come out into family homes and was just beginning to be taught in schools of how to use them. My Dad had a pc on his desk by his short wave radio. My Dad ran the esva van for Bill Clinton when that F-5 tornado went threw Joliet, Crest Hill, and Plainfield. I’ve written to a number of the American Presidents and the 1st lady’s and had responses. I’ve written to famous people and many normal people, normal people are cool to write to.

                  Other then that, i am a published Author. I don’t comment on my publications much at all, nor choose to do so. Yet, Sir, there is a massive amount of people calling out for answers and resolve and some kind of change. Earth, and it’s inhabitants, might want to change. Follow NASA or NOAA and read up on the various temperature changes on Earth that have been taking place, the carbon sink tanks are over loaded in the oceans besides the bowls of turtles and other species of aquatic animals that have injected vast amounts of plastics from an rather unthoughtful human race that cant seem to comprehend to put a lid on their garbage can or don’t be afraid to at least try to pick up at least one piece of garbage even if it’s not use from the ground to throw it away and help keep our habitat clean and healthy.

                  I’ve picked up enough trash as a disabled person to fill ten land fills. If we ever run out of resourceful mines ie copper mines or iron mines or what haver ya, we need to mine land fills that we all had been burying garbage in for a long time ie satan island new york the college kids went and did a garbology study and found heads of lettus and newspapers hadn’t biologically decomposed despite how long they had been buried.

                  There mere fact you written me back i feel like i mad a friend why I’m writing to you, and if ya have any suggestions I’m willing to use and think about any suggestions you have even if it’s on what i write on or postings.

                  Too, note, we didnt collect many books just to look at them collect dust. We were making a hoody of a book collection and we wanted to read each one yet lots of that got delayed for many reasons ie the flood in 2008 where a guy from FEMA only wanted to take pictures of a basement ceiling to begin deprevation of being properly funded and he wrote to a politician that put his lies on paper, and that politician nor the fema guy had and clue in the world of the amounts i floods i had cleaned up for other home owners or multifamily dwelling owners. i was a drywall taper painter and was in cabinet making and light construction yet had many scab jobs and side jobs too, I’ve even used my talent in trying to scroll saw phrases or names and things like that to make people happy and have am emnto to hold onto.

                  You should had seen myneighborhood when the dereho went threw, we conjoined as homeowners to move that largest branch off the street from the winds knocking it out of mike’s tree. me and one other neighbor began trying by ourselves and slowly we got more neighrs and more people to help of an over worked set of local government workers that are field workers that didnt have the time to clean up everything right after the storm yet we all helped feeling we were doing our calling to be human together as a group and a team and those are the storied memorys are made from and or books written on the triumph of the human spirit to over come the most challenging difficulties as a vast whole while leaning from each other.

                  by: Patrick

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                  • Patrick, your above 3:19 pm comment is way too long and rambling. PLEASE reserve writing like that for your own blog. It’s not right that you’re taking up space like that in my blog; you’re the first person to do something like that since I began this blog in 2014. And most of your comment was not about literature, which is mostly the point of this blog. If you post a comment like that again, I will have to delete it. Sorry to be harsh, but, again, what you wrote is something for your own blog.

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                    • OK boss. write it in my own blog. It’s something i’m trying to get use to. i wasn’t sure how blogs work anyways. my apologies. yet the written content was all the truth Dave. Thank you for letting me know. yet when I write at times I can’t replace the inspiration of the moment when I write. i try to incorporated many things into one subject do to I have a lot to say. yet not a problem, ill keep that in mind. At least the beer helped. a 24 ounce beer.

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                    • I posted one painting i began in my blog, I’m not sure if you can find it yet it is uploaded from my flip phone . its a painting of a empty room with one candaleeir and the edges are painted yellow. ill proceed onto my blog. if you comment on my poems or other writings that would be great, then I have someone to write to. pen pal

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            • will write later, i feel a bit better, had a valium last night, i didnt have to be afarid to go to sleep at night with deep electrical pinching feelings in my chest. im trying fish oil as it is suppose to help cardivascular health and am going towards smoothies we make at home and taking advice to help better health. i have not drank beer in about a month and i feel much better, how about everyone else? Yet, having a nip on the bottle even in private sometimes helps the spirits

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  10. I like the way Tennessee Williams portrayed his female characters; some of them being strong and self assured while some are fragile and broken. And that speaks volumes, since both men and women and/or human beings are complex. I’ll also add John Updike’s Witches Of Eastwick and Widows Of Eastwick. Yet, at this point, I must say when I consider the horrendous events re: capitol riot, I’m not feeling very warm and fuzzy about my species. Btw, Happy New Year, sweetie. Here’s to our first year without Trump! Susi

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    • Thank you, Susi, and Happy New Year to you, too! Yes, wonderful to have a year without Trump in the White House, except for the first 20 days.

      Tennessee Williams’ female characters are indeed VERY interesting, whether confident or greatly troubled. Excellent mention! I think I’ve read or seen on stage or seen on screen about five of his plays.

      I haven’t read John Updike’s “Witches” books, but glad you feel women were depicted well in them. I’ve only read one Updike novel — “Rabbit, Run” — and it felt pretty sexist/chauvinistic. 😦

      That awful Capitol riot does indeed make a person despair about the human species, or at least some of its members.

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      • Yeah, I think Updike had an awakening of some sorts, because the books are about feminine power, although again he does use the same old trope to reference that, e.g.”witches”. Just a coupla additions concerning books with feminist elements, and methinks quite worthy of mentioning (my apologies to Mr. King): Dolores Claiborne and Misery. Great post and timely as well since we’re going to have a woman vice-president. Loved it in the debate when she called out Pence for “mansplaining” Great moment in history that was.

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        • Good to hear that Updike perhaps evolved a bit, even as the use of witch characters can indeed be a trope that has the potential for some problematic feminism.

          Some Stephen King novels indeed have feminist elements — also including books such as “Rose Madder” and “Gerald’s Game.”

          And, yes, “mansplaining” is SO annoying.

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          • Ha, Patrick! 🙂 I like the concept of “only one true Anonymous.” 🙂

            So true that “Anonymous” pops up often around “the blogosphere” (though in this case Susi signed her name at the end). Commenting under blogs can be a bit tricky sometimes, with screen names inadvertently left out, and of course some people prefer to be “Anonymous.”

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      • Dave…in FB a little while ago, ran into a woman`s post, not a friend but knew her as a friend`s ( passed) FB friend.( also from Library, thankgoodness gone now)
        Her FB picture was a picture of President Biden , and within paranthesis says ” illegimate”..and several of her friends were making disgustiong comments.
        These kind of people are moderately educated and are floating around us. I never cared for that woman was always rude to others and now I see this.
        These sort of mindsets are floating everywhere..

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        • Ugh, bebe. 😦 It’s so dismaying that many people deny the legitimacy of Biden’s victory. A bunch of brainwashed sore losers. Biden’s win was close to a landslide, despite all the Republican dirty tricks.

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          • I still don`t get the mindset..what they listen to, when the local Republicans certified the results after counting and recounting multiple times.
            These folks are not politicians. I think the Republicans in my neighborhood have the same mind set. they drive fancy cars.and listen to what I wonder .and watch FOX.

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    • i liked the advrerturer storys, huck finn or the outsiders greesers growing up in America while economy problems or things like the movie a beautiful mind that I read that book and couldn’t set it down, or the movie a stroke of genius

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  11. I read the Handmaid’s Tale in college and it did a number on me haha. I couldn’t bring myself to read the sequel. At least not yet! I think with all the things going on in the news it’s been hard for me to read dystopian fiction. In terms of feminism in books, this is a very deep topic for me as I try very hard to create strong, female characters in my own writing. Because I think even in some books deemed feminist, there are some disturbing tropes and trends that still leave me feeling belittled as a woman reader, as if I’m expected to fit into a certain box. I like any book that focuses on the deeper layers of female characters, especially when they’re tough and can take care of business on their own. I also admire when they have stakes outside of how men and other people perceive them – as in, just be yourself ladies, no matter what box you gravitate towards! That being said, I also like it when a book reminds us that women don’t have to choose one aspect of life over the other – for example, we can have independence AND love if we want them both. An author I think does a fantastic job with this is Kate Quinn – I know you’ve read some of her works and I’m sure you agree. Angie Thomas in the Hate U Give also did an amazing job with this, with a female lead put in an impossible situation yet still bearing it up how she thought was best. I could probably come up with more examples but I’ve written you a book here already 🙂 🙂

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    • Thank you, M.B.! All very well said!

      I totally understand that it’s hard to read dystopian fiction when we’re living in a near-dystopian reality. “The Handmaid’s Tale” is indeed depressing — as is “The Testaments,” though the latter has somewhat more hope than the former.

      You’re right that some “feminist” novels aren’t always truly feminist. And, yes, female characters doing what they want to do — whatever that might be, and in whatever combination — pretty much makes them feminist women. Kate Quinn definitely depicts that extraordinarily well with her female characters in “The Huntress” and “The Alice Network.” And I agree that Starr Carter in “The Hate U Give” is a VERY impressive protagonist — even more so because she’s a teen, not an adult.

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  12. Important topic, Dave! “The Stepford Wives” by Ira Levin is one I always remember in a creepy way. The men in Stepford don’t want their wives to have any thoughts of their own or actions that don’t serve the males. In fact, I was thinking about this today when I saw the very misguided female realtor from my part of Texas explaining in a video that she was just following the “president’s” direction when she went to D.C. and stormed the Capitol. She’s a “Stepford patriot,” with her thoughts taken over by (or handed over to) a horrible man. Unlike the women in Levin’s book, she has no excuse.

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    • Thank you, Becky! I haven’t read “The Stepford Wives,” but I’ve certainly heard of that novel and its film versions. It’s impressive when a title of, or a phrase from, a novel becomes an evocative part of the language. I’ve heard Ira Levin’s book is satirical — sort of mocking the way some sexist/misguided men want “their” women to be.

      And, yes, that Texas realtor was indeed VERY misguided in allowing herself to fall in with the sick Trump cult. As you say, inexcusable. 😦

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  13. Do novels about women in the French Resistance count? They’ve become quite popular. However among my favorites in your category are historical fiction which feature talented women struggling in the shadow of accomplished men. Novels such as The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict, Loving Frank and Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan, Saving Kandinsky by Mary Basson, and I Always Loved You by Robin Oliveira all qualify. Each is provocative in its own right, encouraging readers to follow up with non-fiction accounts, but the Horan novel about Robert Louis Stevenson is the most compelling and literary. Oh, and let me add other fiction such as Alice Hoffman’s The Marriage of Opposites and The Dovekeepers and Isabel Allende’s Daughter of Fortune, etc. Too many…I know 🙂

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  14. The Birth House by Amy McKay is the novel that immediately comes to mind. It’s about the struggles of the women of a small town in Nova Scotia at the beginning of the 20th centry to keep their right to use a midwife when a “modern” doctor comes to town.

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    • Thank you, Liz! “The Birth House” sounds like an excellent novel — great premise! “Progress” can sometimes be a very mixed thing. And I’m assuming the “modern” doctor is male?

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  15. Thank you very much, Dave, for having tackled this very interesting topic which to often has been neglected. I could also mention Simone de Beauvoir, but I have decided for Iris von Roten. She was a Swiss feminist, born in 1917, journalist, lawyer, writer (Women in the playpens) and had a very difficult stance, because even women did not accept her! I once wrote a post about this ecceptional woman. https://rivella49.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/emanzipationdfe/

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    • Thank you, Martina, for the comment and the link! I hadn’t heard of Iris von Roten, and was very glad to read your terrific blog post about her. It’s almost never easy to be ahead of one’s time, but that is so worthy of admiration.

      And I appreciate the (brief) mention of Simone de Beauvoir. A towering writer and intellectual.

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      • You know, Dave, I mentioned Mrs. Roten, because I wanted to show that it wasn’t easy for women in Switzerland, which is a quite developed country, to get their rights. In the Canton AI, where I originally come from the right to vote for cantonal matters was given to women by force in 1990.
        Je me rappelle du livre: Les memoires d’une fille bien rangée de Simone de Beauvoir dans lequel elle dit:je rêvais d’être ma propre cause et ma propre fin. Elle semble d’avoir travaillé acharnement et détermination.
        Thank you very much for your words and I allowed to write some word in French, because I suppose you like it and enjoyed your stay in France.
        Enjoy the day:) Martina

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        • A shame that some countries were very late in granting women even a semblance of equal rights. 😦

          With some help from an online translation site, I read your second paragraph as saying: “I remember the book ‘The Memories of a Well-Ranged Girl’ by Simone de Beauvoir in which she said: ‘I dreamed of being my own cause and my own end.’ She seems to have worked hard and had determination.”

          “I dreamed of being my own cause and my own end” is a GREAT quote. Thank you, Martina!

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  16. I will be thinking of you in the coming week, Dave. These are very difficult and uncertain times. I have not read many novels in this area, but I offer two women who lived boldly and offered their opinion with clarity and good judgement. Both lived during social and economic transitions/upheavals. 1) “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects (1792),”written by the 18th-century British proto-feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. And 2) Mary Parker Follett who wrote The New State (1918) was an American social worker, management consultant, philosopher and pioneer in the fields of organizational theory and organizational behavior. Thank you for another great post and excellent discussion, Dave. I look forward to Sundays.

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  17. So many awful,complicit women in Rump’s orbit must include Kellyann Conway and Hope Hicks. They will never be able to cleanse themselves of his filth. I am looking forward to Wednesday’s inauguration for Joseph Robinette Biden,may the transition be a safe one,he gives us hope for a new start. So many complexities on his plate,but he will have the right professionals in place, diverse, highly capable,who care about Science, who care about the American people, many women, starting with his Vice President. 🤗No more amateur hour as Larry Sabato aptly said.

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    • Thank you, Michele! Yes, Conway and Hicks are definitely in Trump’s gallery of lowlifes. I also hope Inauguration Day is safe from violent, far-right, white pro-Trumpers, and I agree that things can only approve under the new administration.

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  19. <amy great mentions here and I'm sure I've mentioned books I felt fit the topic, in previous comments, so I won't bore for them. I see many others I like here including Atwood and Walker so I'll add Amy Tan's The Bonesetter's Daughter which I really enjoyed and must reread actually. Ruth is very much her own woman and the book centers on the complex relationship between her and her mother who, in many ways, was never able to be the free spirit that Ruth is because of her oppressive upbringing. And yet the fact is she is still spirited and there's things she's held onto. Yeah, I have to reread that book.

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    • Thank you, Shehanne!

      I’m very glad you mentioned Amy Tan! I haven’t read “The Bonesetter’s Daughter” — which you described intriguingly — but have read Ms. Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club” and “The Kitchen God’s Wife.” It’s been many years, but I seem to remember both those novels having some strong feminist elements in the mix.

      Just put “The Bonesetter’s Daughter” on my list. 🙂

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  23. There is a novel…I don’t remember it’s title… about a female general and lover of Alexander the Great. It’s absolutely brilliant. The protagonist is gifted, flawed, independent and not very good looking, which last is unusual for female protagonists. She wins Alexander’s love through an affinity of spirit, intelligence and force of personality.

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    • Thank you, butimbeautiful! Sounds like a wonderful novel! I definitely like fiction in which the female protagonists are not beautiful but have great minds and personalities — “Jane Eyre” is certainly one famous example of that.

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  24. Good afternoon Dave, you say Margaret Atwood and…Donald Trump. ?
    How about Donald Trump and Jack Reacher ?

    I haven’t read much lately but I just started reading The Sentinel , by Child brothers.
    Wow, !I read only 30 pages and I like it, we need a Reacher to work with Donald Trump ..

    Sorry to be out of topic, the day to day bad news is so mind boggling , I haven’t not read much.

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    • Thank you, bebe! Nice segue from Margaret Atwood and Donald Trump to Donald Trump and Jack Reacher. 🙂

      So glad you’re liking “The Sentinel” so far! Can’t wait to read it myself after my wife bought it for me as a holiday gift, but I’m still getting through some library-borrowed novels first.

      The news these days is indeed mind-boggling and horrific. Reacher really needs to have a “talk” with Trump…

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      • Oh you already have the book, I like how it started in Nashville.

        Anyways , the whole world is laughing at us.
        I am also deeply saddened how this Police man was killed trying to protedt us. There is no excuse, but as I understand Pentagon refuses Trump request for military-style farewell parade to accompany his White House departure.
        The nerve of this man !

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        • “The Sentinel” started in Nashville? Nice!

          bebe, the whole world is indeed laughing at the U.S.; hopefully people outside the U.S. have been differentiating between Trump/his enablers/his followers and other Americans.

          And, yes, it’s sick that Trump wants a military sendoff after fomenting the Capitol riot that resulted in deaths, and after all the other awful things he’s said and done. His narcissism is off the charts.

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  25. For now all I ca n say is, this short intro write of Dave Aster’s on the subject of Atwood / Trump raison d’être so to speak, has me realize that my neglect of and on priorities, caused me a delay of enjoying Dave’s personage extaordinaire! To be repaired …

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  26. All eyes will be on the US again this week – but I hope for all the right reasons! I know a quick fix isn’t possible, but change is! A little bit of dignity will be returning to the White House. You must be quite pleased at that prospect!

    And so a thought provoking post for us this week – well, they all are, but this one is quite poignant for all the reasons you’ve given!

    I’ve read quite a few of these novels you’ve mentioned. Unfortunately any detail of the stories have been lost to the mists of time. I do remember enjoying Fannie Flagg though. My parents were living in Savannah and some of the other Southern States mid to late 90s so I read a number of books that were connected in some way. And yes, I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, whilst I visited one time!

    But back to your theme for this week. I read and very much enjoyed ‘The Artificial Silk Girl’ by Irmgard Keun (1932). Described as humorous and a tragedy, I’m not terribly sure the comedy comes thick and fast, but it does detail a resourceful young woman’s existence and her desire to become an actress.

    I also read, last year, ‘The G-String Murders’ by Gypsy Rose Lee. It was good fun Noir book to read and the movie with Barbara Stanwyk is great. However, I think my thoughts about this lean more towards the author in this case. Queen of Burlesque and also a novelist, I think she really made a lot of effort to take charge of her own destiny in a male dominated world and to be successful in more than one arena is no easy task!

    I know there are many others and I look forward to reading the comments with interest!

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    • Thank you, Sarah!

      Things will certainly improve somewhat when Trump is out of the White House, but he and other thuggish Republicans will still try to drag decency down. Fingers crossed.

      I hear you about details of novels we’ve read being “lost to the mists of time.” But, like you for a different reason, I remember Fannie Flagg’s excellent novels fairly well — I read all of them within the past half-dozen years or so. But I haven’t read John Berendt’s “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”

      Both “The Artificial Silk Girl” and “The G-String Murders” sound very interesting! I didn’t know that Gypsy Rose Lee was also a novelist! Joining people like Ms. Flagg and Thomas Tryon who were entertainers as well as authors.

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      • Your comment about Fannie Flagg sent me scurrying over to Wiki. I didn’t know she acted! I must admit to not knowing Thomas Tryon. Another helpful Wiki search reveals he authored horror stories. However, one of his books was made into a film directed by Billy Wilder! Quite an accolade I’m sure!

        ‘The Artificial Silk Girl’ depicts life in the Weimar era – you almost expect the main character to bump into Sally Bowles (I’m sure Christopher Isherwood must have read this). It is very much a liberated time for women – as depicted here!

        As for ‘The G-String Murders’. Well, it isn’t going to win any literary awards but it’s fun and has some great characters with tragic stories. I suppose what it does do, much like ‘The Artificial Silk Girl’, is it lets women tell the story the way they see it!

        And on a little side-note, this was originally published by Simon & Schuster in 1941, which comes full circle back to your recent reading material, as they now publish Margaret Atwood.

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        • Yes, Sarah, interesting backgrounds for those authors! I’ve read one Tryon novel — “Lady,” recommended by “lulabelleharris,” who posted a commented here a little while ago — and it was really good.

          I definitely now have “The Artificial Silk Girl” on my to-read list. Certainly set in a fascinating/fraught time, as you note.

          And that’s a very nice “The G-String Murders”/Atwood publishing company connection!

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