Publication
University of Texas Press (1983), Edition: 1, 160 pages
Original publication date
1983
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Awards
Washington State Book Award (Winner — 1984)
Description
Are women able to achieve anything they set their minds to? In How to Suppress Women ?s Writing, award-winning novelist and scholar Joanna Russ lays bare the subtle ?and not so subtle ?strategies that society uses to ignore, condemn, or belittle women who produce literature. As relevant today as when it was first published in 1983, this book has motivated generations of readers with its powerful feminist critique. ?What is it going to take to break apart these rigidities? Russ ?s book is a formidable attempt. It is angry without being self-righteous, it is thorough without being exhausting, and it is serious without being devoid of a sense of humor. But it was published over thirty years ago, in 1983, and there ?s not an enormous difference between the world she describes and the world we inhabit. ? ?Jessa Crispin, from the foreword ?A book of the most profound and original clarity. Like all clear-sighted people who look and see what has been much mystified and much lied about, Russ is quite excitingly subversive. The study of literature should never be the same again. ? ?Marge Piercy ?Joanna Russ is a brilliant writer, a writer of real moral passion and high wit. ? ?Adrienne Rich… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member rivkat
“She didn’t write it. She wrote it, but she shouldn’t have. She wrote it, but look what she wrote about. She wrote it, but ‘she’ isn’t really an artist and ‘it’ isn’t really serious, of the right genre—i.e., really art.… She wrote it, but there are very few of her.”
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Brilliant and angry, Russ writes of the multiple techniques used out of bad faith and ignorance to eliminate women writers (and other artists) from popular and scholarly consciousness. This time around I noticed in particular her discussion of the suppression of antecedents and community, so that every prominent woman artist appears anomalous, isolated, and surprising. Show Less
LibraryThing member KLmesoftly
I really need to stop reading books that then in turn expand my to-read list! This was really eye-opening, particularly the collected quotes regarding women's writing/female authorship from different time periods (aside from the outdated colloquialisms/phrasing, I could have assumed many of them
The one thing that I would note before recommending this book is that it is academic writing, complete with in-line citations and full blocks of examples. Joanna Russ is building a case, not necessarily trying to be constantly entertaining, so some chapters are slow going due to the sheer volume of examples (which are necessary in order to prove the existence of the trend she's observing).
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had been made last week, especially the negative comments). The one thing that I would note before recommending this book is that it is academic writing, complete with in-line citations and full blocks of examples. Joanna Russ is building a case, not necessarily trying to be constantly entertaining, so some chapters are slow going due to the sheer volume of examples (which are necessary in order to prove the existence of the trend she's observing).
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LibraryThing member Devil_llama
The author writes with a measured tone, not inflammatory or accusatory, but merely explaining the ways in which women authors have been marginalized in the canon. She explores several women writers I have never heard of (and you probably haven't either) but who were influences on the women writers
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most of us have heard of. She gives detailed examples for each type of suppression she details, from denying the woman wrote it at all to denying it is art, or suggesting that it is unimportant or maybe she shouldn't have written it. Although many might dismiss this as dated, since it is 30 years old now, it is sad to note that many of these examples are still relevant today. This book should be required reading for any literary critic (and in case they WANT to suppress women's writing, it could work as a how-to book, so they couldn't complain too loudly about that). This book is worth an extra half star just for the cover. My only complaint is that there are times where she seems to promote the dichotomy between women's writing and men's, accepting that women write exclusively or mostly about "woman things". Other than that, there are few sour notes. Show Less
LibraryThing member eilonwy_anne
A quick, basic overview of the ways women writers and their works have been denigrated and marginalized over time. That sounds depressing, but it's sharply written and an easy, accessible read. It's also an important read, because these 'techniques' are often unconscious and ingrained, and even
While the book largely addresses the history of European and American white female writers, Russ points out that the same criteria and misunderstandings are applied to writing by all sorts of minority groups, with the same result.
It's well written and informative -- an improving book that you can blaze through in a day or two.
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those of us who are women and are writers are prone to falling into these patterns. It's extensively researched, and contains some interesting quotes and anecdotes from working writers.While the book largely addresses the history of European and American white female writers, Russ points out that the same criteria and misunderstandings are applied to writing by all sorts of minority groups, with the same result.
It's well written and informative -- an improving book that you can blaze through in a day or two.
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LibraryThing member Coobeastie
A classic book. I don't think I've ever read such a short book that's made me think so much. Punchy, succint and brilliant.
LibraryThing member satyridae
This one belongs on the Feminist Classics shelf. I stumbled across a reference to it online, and was intrigued enough to order it through Inter-Library Loan, which should say something right there. A feminist classic about how women's writing is suppressed, written by a woman... that's unavailable
I don't know who said "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention" but after reading this, one suspects it was a woman writer.
Highly recommended if you write or if you read. It'll make you angry enough to spit nails, be warned going in.
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at my local library? In Portland, Oregon, yet? So. I don't know who said "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention" but after reading this, one suspects it was a woman writer.
Highly recommended if you write or if you read. It'll make you angry enough to spit nails, be warned going in.
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LibraryThing member ltimmel
This is a re-read (of course!) made in preparation for a panel at Readercon dedicated to discussing it. It continues to be relevant, though as with every reading of books one reads and rereads over decades, it speaks to me differently now, and in some sense explains my decision to become a
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publisher (however deleterious that's proven to be to my writing career). Perhaps most striking, this time around, is the brilliance of Russ's rhetorical strategies and her superb mastery of the form in which she's writing. In 1983 I read it in one gulp; in 2012, I took a week to read it. Would it be fair to say that it excites me for slightly different reasons now than it did then? Perhaps. Show Less
LibraryThing member sparemethecensor
A vitally important text for considering who is allowed to create art.
LibraryThing member LisCarey
Joanna Russ was a science fiction writer who came to prominence in the field in the 1960s, when women in the field were beginning to increase in numbers, but the explosion of women in science fiction of the 1970s was still in the future. She was also one of science fiction's home-grown scholars and
In How to Suppress Women's Writing, she once again takes on work respectable academics and literary critics weren't willing to do: take a long, hard look at how and why women writers and artists, as well as other minority group writers and artists, keep disappearing from the record. Prominent in their own times, they quickly fade from view, leaving later generations to believe that only an exceptional few ever existed, or if they did exist, were inferior, forgettable talents. Emily Dickinson, for instance, is generally presented as springing from nothing, influenced by no predecessors or contemporaries, and influencing no women who came after her.
This is simply wrong. Emily Dickinson corresponded with other women writers, and other women writers and artists in every era had other women they knew, corresponded with, met, were aware of. They supported, influenced, competed with each other.
Often what they were doing appears thin, weak, or simply sui generis, because the literary tradition of which they are a part is invisible or forgotten. Or it's about women's experience, women's lives, women's perception of the world, which appear trivial and superficial in a literary tradition and a culture that centers white, male, heterosexual experiences and viewpoints.
This is a groundbreaking work, and yes, even thirty years later, you do want to read it. It will broaden and enrich your experience of literature, even as it alerts you to the ways in which women's creative work is still devalued.
Highly recommended.
I bought this book.
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critics, doing the work academics and more conventionally "respectable" literary critics were not yet ready to do.In How to Suppress Women's Writing, she once again takes on work respectable academics and literary critics weren't willing to do: take a long, hard look at how and why women writers and artists, as well as other minority group writers and artists, keep disappearing from the record. Prominent in their own times, they quickly fade from view, leaving later generations to believe that only an exceptional few ever existed, or if they did exist, were inferior, forgettable talents. Emily Dickinson, for instance, is generally presented as springing from nothing, influenced by no predecessors or contemporaries, and influencing no women who came after her.
This is simply wrong. Emily Dickinson corresponded with other women writers, and other women writers and artists in every era had other women they knew, corresponded with, met, were aware of. They supported, influenced, competed with each other.
Often what they were doing appears thin, weak, or simply sui generis, because the literary tradition of which they are a part is invisible or forgotten. Or it's about women's experience, women's lives, women's perception of the world, which appear trivial and superficial in a literary tradition and a culture that centers white, male, heterosexual experiences and viewpoints.
This is a groundbreaking work, and yes, even thirty years later, you do want to read it. It will broaden and enrich your experience of literature, even as it alerts you to the ways in which women's creative work is still devalued.
Highly recommended.
I bought this book.
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LibraryThing member jostie13
Amazing. Generated a brand new reading list.
LibraryThing member psalva
By examining the progression of bad faith arguments used to belittle writing done by women, each progressively more desperate/illogical, Russ shows how flawed and dangerous much critical analysis of women’s work can be. As someone who doesn’t do a lot of academic reading, this was a slough in
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parts. However, Russ makes excellent points regarding the literary canon, college syllabi, and cultural values- and this was written in ‘83! While much has changed in the publishing industry, there are still gaps in racial diversity and pay rates, as well as in syllabi around the world. Overall, this was an excellent read, if a little dense for me at times, and is, unfortunately, still very relevant. Show Less
Media reviews
How to Suppress Women’s Writing invites re-reading; on second perusal, I found more than I had the first time. The humor is more obvious, the arguments doubly interesting with repetition, and the culminating effect all together different: the first time, I was understandably upset though struck
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with the clarity of the argument; the second time, I was pleased to have read it again, to have closely read Russ’s brilliant synthesis of information and to have appreciated her genius. The arguments are still great, and still immensely emotional for me as a writer in a tradition that has contributed as much as any to the erasure of women artists, but the book is more a treat. (And I still think it should be assigned reading for starting university students; what a difference it might make in how they see their continuing engagement with “the canon.”) Show Less
Russ never loses her cool or becomes accusatory in the text, though some of the examples might make the reader angry enough that they have to put the book down for a moment (me included). It’s engaging, witty and well-reasoned without ever plunging over the edge into “hopelessly academic.”
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
9780292724457
Physical description
170 p.; 5.5 inches
Pages
170