tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/female-writing-17815/articles
Female writing – The Conversation
2023-11-27T13:48:37Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211940
2023-11-27T13:48:37Z
2023-11-27T13:48:37Z
Booker prize: rediscovering the first female winner, the often-forgotten Bernice Rubens
<p>One of the most captivating and enigmatic novelists of the 20th century, Bernice Rubens remains largely unknown despite her remarkable literary achievements. She was the <a href="https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/the-elected-member">second recipient</a> of the Booker prize in 1970 for her novel <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Elected_Member/V1vODwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">The Elected Member</a> and its first female winner. </p>
<p>She remains the only Welsh winner in the history of the prize – a fact that perhaps speaks volumes for the way Welsh writing in the English language is perceived and recognised outside of Wales. </p>
<p>Rubens was born in the working class area of Adamsdown in Cardiff in 1923, to Polish and Lithuanian Jewish immigrants. She attended the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, Cardiff (now Cardiff University), where she received a BA in English in 1947. Having taught English and worked on documentary films early on in her career, she only started writing at the age of 30. </p>
<p>Rubens went on to publish more than 20 novels and one work of non-fiction before her death in 2004, but still <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/oct/14/guardianobituaries.books">referred</a> to her own writing as merely “better than most, not as good as some”. </p>
<p>This wry view underplays just how versatile her style and subject matter was, however. And while Rubens was well known and applauded during her lifetime, her work, like so many other Welsh women, is often unknown outside of Welsh university circles, some English literature degrees and more adventurous book clubs. </p>
<p>Some of this relates, perhaps, to the fact that she never really fitted into the Cardiff literary scene and was often overshadowed by some of her contemporaries, especially Welsh poet, <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/dannie-abse">Dannie Abse</a>. </p>
<p>But as a working class Welsh-Jewish writer, her ability to unflinchingly explore the traumas and legacies of her own cultural heritage makes her writing especially memorable and haunting. </p>
<h2>Cultural background</h2>
<p>In The Elected Member, Rubens looks at how the façade of a respectable Jewish family crumbles when their beloved son plunges into the depths of drug addiction.</p>
<p>Her 1983 novel, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Brothers/eM_fD3_TOuAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Brothers+Bernice+Rubens&dq=Brothers+Bernice+Rubens&printsec=frontcover">Brothers</a>, explores the experiences of four generations of a family as they face the Tsarist army in Russia in the 1830s, the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20101343">1871 Odessa pogrom</a> in Ukraine, emigration (to both Wales and Germany) and concentration camps. </p>
<p>The novel exemplifies the worst of human behaviour in relation to marginalised and persecuted people. But it also underlines the need for human connection and, ultimately, hope. No one who reads Brothers could walk away from the experience unchanged. </p>
<p>From a Welsh perspective, her 1975 novel, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/I_Sent_a_Letter_to_My_Love/tBP9DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=I+Sent+A+Letter+to+My+Love+Bernice+Rubens&printsec=frontcover">I Sent A Letter to My Love</a>, is one of Rubens’ most disturbing and strangely poignant works. Set in the “one-eyed” seaside town of Porthcawl, the novel follows the struggles of unmarried, middle-aged Amy and her disabled brother, Stan, and their close friend, Gwyneth, as they live out their tedious existences. </p>
<p>Much of the novel’s action revolves around the drama that ensues from Amy placing an advert in the personal column of the local newspaper under the pseudonym “Blodwyn Pugh”. Instead of receiving an overwhelming postbag of suitors, Amy receives a single reply –- from her brother, Stan.</p>
<p>Their letter writing becomes increasingly sexual, until Stan starts to develop feelings for Gwyneth. This willingness to confront the quasi-incestuous nature of the siblings’ relationship (albeit unknowing, at least on Stan’s side), is one of the reasons Rubens’ work is so discomfiting. It refuses to be easily labelled or contained in a genre or style. </p>
<p>The novel was later made into a French film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082182/">Chère Inconnue</a>, in 1982, starring Simone Signoret and Jean Rochefort, which also plays on the novel’s disturbing central plot. </p>
<h2>Defying genre</h2>
<p>Overall, Rubens’ fictions are hybrid and sit between different cultural identities. They are impossible to neatly pigeonhole. Indeed, critics like <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/rubens-bernice-ruth">Hana Sambrook</a> have referred to the “maddening” refusal of her writing to fit neatly into a single category. </p>
<p>However, this refusal to fit is exactly why Rubens is so important. Why should she fit neatly into any category? Why do we put so much value on genre and style being so precisely categorised? </p>
<p>Readers today will find much of Rubens’ back catalogue available second hand. But only a single novel, I Sent A Letter to My Love, has been incorporated into the <a href="https://www.parthianbooks.com/collections/library-of-wales">Library of Wales</a> series from publisher Parthian Books, which aims to republish significant works of classic Welsh literature in English.</p>
<p>Rubens sits alongside a small handful of other women writers in the collection, including <a href="https://www.parthianbooks.com/collections/library-of-wales/products/in-and-out-of-the-goldfish">Rachel Trezise</a>, <a href="https://www.parthianbooks.com/collections/library-of-wales/products/rhapsody">Dorothy Edwards</a>, <a href="https://www.parthianbooks.com/collections/library-of-wales/products/the-battle-to-the-weak">Hilda Vaughan</a> and <a href="https://www.parthianbooks.com/collections/library-of-wales/products/turf-or-stone">Margiad Evans</a>. </p>
<p>Perhaps the way we immortalise our own cultural history in Wales is part of the reason why working-class women writers such as Rubens are yet to reach a wider audience, beyond the popularity of their day. </p>
<p>However, even more importantly in my view, it lies with the failure of prominent prizes to fully recognise Welsh women’s contribution to literary history. Sadly, it’s a failure that seems unlikely to be overturned any time soon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211940/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Deininger is a member of the Green Party. </span></em></p>
Bernice Rubens won the 1970 Booker prize for her novel, The Elected Member, and is the only Welsh person to have ever won the prize.
Michelle Deininger, Senior Co-ordinating Lecturer in Humanities, Cardiff University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/90632
2018-01-25T01:52:49Z
2018-01-25T01:52:49Z
Farewell Ursula Le Guin – the One who walked away from Omelas
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203177/original/file-20180124-72627-48e2jt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C191%2C3456%2C1764&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fantasy and science fiction author Ursula Le Guin has died, aged 88. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PublicityPhotos.html">© 2014 Jack Liu</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Author Ursula Kroeber Le Guin has been the subject of critical debate, analysis and discussion for generations. She died this week at the age of 88. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/">Le Guin</a> published her first paid work April in Paris in the September 1962 issue of the magazine <a href="http://www.fantasticstoriesoftheimagination.com/">Fantastic Stories of the Imagination</a> - and I am the proud owner of an original copy. I am a lifelong Le Guin fan, but also an academic exploring how science fiction is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017723690">cultural artefact</a> that acts as a lens on <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.25120/etropic.16.1.2017.3570">changing attitudes</a> and specific issues of its time. For me, Le Guin hit the sweet spots of her time powerfully and frequently. </p>
<p>Le Guin explored what it is to be human, faults and all, and the impact and influence of her work is undeniable in the world of fantasy and science fiction. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/science-fiction-helps-us-deal-with-science-fact-a-lesson-from-terminators-killer-robots-50249">Science fiction helps us deal with science fact: a lesson from Terminator's killer robots</a>
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<h2>A fantasy writer for all ages</h2>
<p>I first encountered Le Guin as a child through the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/40909-earthsea-cycle">Earthsea Cycle</a>, and it set the bar high for what I considered ever after to be good fantasy literature, leaving me disappointed by many otherwise quite respectable authors. </p>
<p>A Wizard of Earthsea, published in 1968, was the first of three books exploring the life of Ged, a young wizard. Spoiler alert: Ged grows and matures into an adult, starting with his attendance at a secretive wizarding school, where he is scarred on the face by a dark power (which he discovered is inextricably linked to him) and that he later defeats. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203181/original/file-20180124-72631-s597cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203181/original/file-20180124-72631-s597cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203181/original/file-20180124-72631-s597cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203181/original/file-20180124-72631-s597cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203181/original/file-20180124-72631-s597cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203181/original/file-20180124-72631-s597cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203181/original/file-20180124-72631-s597cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Tehanu Frontispiece.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Blog2016.html#116BBEarthsea">Charles Vess 2016</a></span>
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<p>If this sounds familiar, you’re not the first to note it. Regarding the story of Ged in A Wizard of Earthsea, Le Guin didn’t say that J.K. Rowling “ripped me off” in her Harry Potter series, but felt that Rowling should have been “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/17/booksforchildrenandteenagers.shopping">more gracious about her predecessors</a>”. </p>
<p>In the Earthsea series, we are introduced to the complex responsibilities of becoming an adult, and asked to consider the values of life and the nature of death. It’s heavy, but significant and humanly realistic reading for a teenager. </p>
<h2>Professionalism and style</h2>
<p>Le Guin was fiercely protective and supportive of other authors. In 1973, she made a humorous critique of the problems faced by writers trying to make their worlds fantastical and strange in <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=ksOjjuy3issC&pg=PA83&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false">From Elfland to Poughkeepsie</a>, encouraging and emphasising the importance of appropriate style.</p>
<p>Style is something Le Guin seemed to be able to master effortlessly and consistently. I consider her short story Semley’s Necklace – first published in 1964 and later included in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77289.The_Wind_s_Twelve_Quarters">The Wind’s Twelve Quarters</a> – to be the finest of its kind in fantasy writing, its crystalline prose equal to Semley’s tragic fate. </p>
<p>Le Guin maintained an interest in encouraging writers and sharing her art. I have an original and much-thumbed copy of the elegantly titled (and naturally masterfully written) <a href="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Index-SteeringCraft-2ndEd.html">Steering the Craft: a 21st Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story</a>, published in 1998: it didn’t make me a better writer, but it made me respect and appreciate the craft of writing. </p>
<p>David Mitchell, author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Atlas-Liam-Callanan/dp/0385336950">Cloud Atlas</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/23/david-mitchell-wizard-of-earthsea-tolkien-george-rr-martin">waxed lyrical</a> about Earthsea. He was one of a range of famous admirers including <a href="https://twitter.com/neilhimself">Neil Gaiman</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/stephenfry">Stephen Fry</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/billybragg">Billy Bragg</a> who have been tweeting their sorrow.</p>
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<h2>On human nature, science, ethics and duty</h2>
<p>For me, Le Guin has been such a powerful influence in science fiction and fantasy literature that I can’t imagine how it might have developed without her.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203187/original/file-20180124-72603-exfn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203187/original/file-20180124-72603-exfn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203187/original/file-20180124-72603-exfn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203187/original/file-20180124-72603-exfn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203187/original/file-20180124-72603-exfn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1196&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203187/original/file-20180124-72603-exfn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1196&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203187/original/file-20180124-72603-exfn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1196&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">My own much loved, much lent copy of The Left Hand of Darkness (Granada Publishing, 1973).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christopher Benjamin Menadue</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The Left Hand of Darkness, published in 1969, inspired and informed a generation of gender writing in fantasy and science fiction. Yet, in her 1976 introduction to this novel, Le Guin maintained that androgyny was not what she considered the theme of the book – it was more to do with essential human feelings about fidelity and betrayal. Her employment of what were to become tropes of science fiction and fantasy was in service of the story, not the other way around, and this was a characteristic of her work. </p>
<p>More than many other author, she employed language, culture and concept in service of writing significant stories about the condition of being human.</p>
<p>Where writer Philip K Dick might be considered the expert of the “what if” scenario in science fiction, for me Le Guin is the expert at “what is?” She asked questions about our nature, aims and desires. She was consistently writing at the coalface of cultural change, or anticipating it. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-science-fictions-women-problem-58626">Friday essay: science fiction's women problem</a>
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<p>Her short story <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/13/opinion/david-brooks-the-child-in-the-basement.html">The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas</a>, written in 1973 is a devastating, slow-burn exposition of the implications of taking the utilitarian route in our exploitative relationships with other people. </p>
<p>The power of this writing has only increased with time, as we become more aware of “ethical outsourcing” and labour inequalities. These are portrayed in the film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1512201/">The Last Train Home</a>, where the lives of those in the “developed world” become more comfortable, but at the expense of people we don’t know and can’t see. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13651.The_Dispossessed">The Dispossessed</a>, published in 1974, was my introduction to a reader-friendly explanation of comparative ideologies – I suspect it was the same for many people.</p>
<p>But it was also a story about scientists, and the duty they have to be responsible, ethical and honest. It is another very human story in which Le Guin skillfully portrays the difficulties of presenting complex concepts to an unwelcoming world – something that is still pertinent in an age of climate change denial, anti-vaccination lobbying and fake news.</p>
<p>Le Guin was not a universal fan of scientific progress, but always took a human perspective. She was horrified by the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/dec/24/le-guin-authors-guild-deal">deal with the devil</a>” of the Google book digitisation project, which although a great technological innovation, she recognised as a potential assault on the rights of authors.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203174/original/file-20180124-72612-13jsyt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203174/original/file-20180124-72612-13jsyt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203174/original/file-20180124-72612-13jsyt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203174/original/file-20180124-72612-13jsyt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203174/original/file-20180124-72612-13jsyt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203174/original/file-20180124-72612-13jsyt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203174/original/file-20180124-72612-13jsyt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Fantasy and science fiction author Ursula Le Guin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PublicityPhotos.html">Copyright Marian Wood Kolisch</a></span>
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<p>Le Guin was a prolific novelist, and I only realise how small a proportion of her work my collection includes when I look look her up on the <a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?37">Internet Science Fiction Database</a>. </p>
<p>Unlike many of her contemporaries, Le Guin consistently wrote thoughtful and artful science fiction and fantasy throughout her life, without becoming fixed in any particular style. </p>
<p>Like Ged in Earthsea, she matured gracefully and elegantly with age, and continued to be powerful force and influence in the world of science fiction and fantasy writing.</p>
<p>The world has lost a great and influential writer and humanist. When I heard the news of her death I was heartbroken.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90632/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Benjamin Menadue does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Le Guin’s A Wizard of EarthSea and The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas are just two examples of her prolific and influential writing career in fantasy and science fiction.
Christopher Benjamin Menadue, PhD Candidate, Literature and Society, James Cook University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/78046
2017-05-19T17:44:19Z
2017-05-19T17:44:19Z
Darkest taboos: how Fleabag busted unrealistic portrayals of women on TV
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170124/original/file-20170519-12266-19zl3rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=fleabag+images&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYxsLe6PvTAhVlDMAKHRj4DUAQsAQIJQ&biw=1440&bih=713#imgrc=IvDNJVB98Z1PNM:">BBC</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cringeworthy moments, eye-watering sex scenes, gleeful swearing, naked vulnerability and vulgarity of every stripe: groundbreaking BBC sitcom <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/aug/05/fleabag-a-hilarious-sitcom-about-terrible-people-and-broken-lives">Fleabag</a> fully deserved its recent BAFTA award.</p>
<p>Fleabag (2016-) is part of an extraordinary new trend in television that kicked off a few years ago with Netflix prison drama <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/03/netflix-orange-is-the-new-black-accurate-prison">Orange is the New Black</a> (2013-). Both are shockingly stark and deliberately vulgar when it comes to exposing the taboo corners of female psychology, biology and anatomy. Both are realistic to the extent of being naturalistic in terms of visuals, dialogue and narrative.</p>
<p>This is writing by women which promises to show female characters as they really are, and not through society’s obligatory filters that exist to pigeonhole women.</p>
<p>Fleabag’s titular protagonist, played by its writer <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/fleabag-star-phoebe-waller-bridge-on-unlikable-women-and-sexual-validation">Phoebe Waller-Bridge</a> and adapted for the screen from her one-woman play <a href="http://www.sohotheatre.com/whats-on/touch/">Touch</a>, is a twenty-something Londoner struggling to find meaning in life. She is a promiscuous, pornography-watching sex-addict juggling a string of grotesque relationships and random encounters with managing a failing café business.</p>
<p>She is also trying to come to terms with the death of her best friend who committed suicide after her boyfriend cheated on her. Halfway through the first season, we learn he cheated with Fleabag herself.</p>
<h2>Defying expectations</h2>
<p>Waller-Bridge’s character comes from an upper-middle class family, but defies all expectations that normally come with this kind of background. For example, she is a compulsive liar and a thief. The stealing bit comes from a deep sense of insecurity and the need to attract the attention of her emotionally unavailable father.</p>
<p>Fleabag’s entire life is a series of shameful mishaps, ranging from taking her top off at a bank interview to stealing a statuette of a naked woman, made by her infuriating stepmother (wonderfully played by <a href="http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows/broadchurch/extras/an-interview-with-olivia-colman">Broadchurch actress Olivia Colman</a>) who considers herself to be an artist. Fleabag’s unpolished “neglected orphan” image (the opposite of what a young woman is expected to be) is partly the result of her mother’s death from breast cancer. </p>
<p>Traditionally, female protagonists in TV dramas have been “presented” to us rather than speaking for themselves. We can’t hear their real voices as they are obscured by various societal roles and expectations collectively reflected in narratives: passive, objectified sexuality, longing for a partner and a family, looking elegant and groomed, emotional maturity, readiness to provide emotional support, sacrificial motherhood, and so on. They are “clean” characters.</p>
<p>This “cleanliness” is both internal and external – the purity of character and body. A “proper” woman does not steal, or lie to your face, or swear, or talk about inappropriate things at the table. Likewise, she does not sweat or smell, does not have hairy legs, is not seen to have periods, or use the toilet.</p>
<p>Nudity on screen has become so common that it no longer shocks. Yet filmmakers are still reluctant to show a female character who wakes up looking terrible; who has spots or rolls of fat (particularly outside comedic settings). Fleabag offers true naturalism; this is what is truly groundbreaking – not the increasingly dull sex scenes involving toned bodies to which film and TV audiences are treated to every day. </p>
<p>Of course, there were the four heroines of <a href="http://www.hbo.com/sex-and-the-city/about/index.html">Sex and the City</a> who candidly discussed sex and the perils of modern dating, but they were beautifully made up, successful, and fashionable. None of them evoked associations with a “fleabag”. Waller-Bridge’s creation is much closer to Lena Dunham’s series <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/feb/04/how-lena-dunham-show-girls-turned-tv-upside-down">Girls</a> (2012-2017), but still deliberately avoids HBO’s polish. Everything about Fleabag is rough and raw, from the music and camerawork to the POV (point of view) and monologues. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170187/original/file-20170519-12221-i2irfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170187/original/file-20170519-12221-i2irfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170187/original/file-20170519-12221-i2irfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170187/original/file-20170519-12221-i2irfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170187/original/file-20170519-12221-i2irfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170187/original/file-20170519-12221-i2irfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170187/original/file-20170519-12221-i2irfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Sex and the City girls: candid but glossy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/kim-cattrall-cynthia-nixon-sarah-jessica-183449639?src=4q5sfBjQxt316s-Od6g3SQ-1-55">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In fact, cinema and TV are generally still operating along the lines of these stereotypes for both female protagonists and secondary characters, making any deviation from the norm look refreshingly gritty. A “proper” woman is therefore so sterile she practically smells of chlorine.</p>
<h2>Blundering and failing</h2>
<p>It is this sense of blank sterility that Waller-Bridge defies with her depiction of a blundering, failing young woman. Her hilarious asides to the camera, often including candid, uncensored remarks on uncomfortable subjects such as anal sex, masturbation and survivor guilt, show that not only she is not ashamed of her behaviour – she is proud of it.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Kr6MDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA146&lpg=PA146&dq=hyper+naturalism+in+drama&source=bl&ots=2BuQ9J4_Nq&sig=mNlQZ2q9la8DP3zPvDMM3F9qftw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjjgpaa3vvTAhUDI8AKHY4_DHQQ6AEIejAS#v=onepage&q=hyper%20naturalism%20in%20drama&f=false">hyper-naturalism</a>, which is the hallmark of the series, is the result of this pride. After all, male protagonists in TV and film have been allowed to be make mistakes for decades. Men on screen are allowed to be funny, ridiculous, ugly, promiscuous and terrified of settling down. Why can’t women? </p>
<p>When asked what constitutes the “female journey” (that is, the difficulties the female protagonists have to overcome on their path in narratives), the American mythologist and author <a href="https://www.jcf.org/">Joseph Campbell</a> allegedly replied that there was no such thing as a female journey as a woman didn’t have anywhere to go in the first place.</p>
<p>In his books Campbell explored the path of the male hero in world mythology. The path consists of multiple steps, and is full of problems to be dealt with, puzzles to be solved and monsters to be killed. A woman need not bother to activate her agency like a man would: she is already “there”, already perfect. She is born at peace with herself, whereas the man has to endure trials and tribulations to become the true hero of his own story.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170130/original/file-20170519-12266-vmbe8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170130/original/file-20170519-12266-vmbe8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170130/original/file-20170519-12266-vmbe8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170130/original/file-20170519-12266-vmbe8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170130/original/file-20170519-12266-vmbe8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170130/original/file-20170519-12266-vmbe8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170130/original/file-20170519-12266-vmbe8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fleabag is imperfect and unhappy and aching to go on her own journey to fight her demons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=fleabag+images&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYxsLe6PvTAhVlDMAKHRj4DUAQsAQIJQ&biw=1440&bih=713#imgrc=V5wBoAzz6laxmM:">Soho Theatre</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This view implies that a woman does not have to face the journey of finding who she is, blundering and looking for meaning through trial and error, let alone looking stupid in the process. Her chlorine perfection stays unchanged through her life and guarantees happiness – particularly if she finds the right man with whom to start a family. </p>
<p>Fleabag’s rebellious naturalism successfully challenges this vision of the female protagonist (of whom we still have very few, although their number is growing – particularly on TV). Fleabag the woman is imperfect, unhappy, itching to go on her journey and fight all sorts of internal and external monsters: addictions; insecurities; the neglectful father; the dead mother; the chilly sister; the fake pompous stepmother; the weird arsehole guy; the rude bank manager. This is her way of becoming herself, of finding her own voice. </p>
<p>At last there is a trend that frees women from the bland stereotyped portrayals of feminine perfection and the need to conform to good girl expectations. We should be grateful to Fleabag for showing female characters who are not ashamed of being imperfect and real.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78046/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helena Bassil-Morozow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
BBC sitcom Fleabag rewrites the rules on depicting women in drama, freeing the female character from the mindless stereotyping that has straitjacketed women for so long.
Helena Bassil-Morozow, Lecturer in Media and Journalism, Glasgow Caledonian University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/43173
2015-06-14T20:14:42Z
2015-06-14T20:14:42Z
Books by women are not enough: we need better women’s stories
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84795/original/image-20150612-11421-1vjobhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Eleanor Catton won the 2013 Man Booker Prize, for a novel centred largely on men. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Tal Cohen</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It was interesting to see the novelist Kamila Shamsie’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/05/kamila-shamsie-2018-year-publishing-women-no-new-books-men">provocation in The Guardian</a> last week for publishers to only publish books by women in the year 2018 – a provocation which has already been taken up by at least <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/11/no-men-allowed-publisher-accepts-novelists-year-of-women-challenge">one publisher</a>. Shamsie wrote that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The knock-on effect of a Year of Publishing Women would be evident in review pages and blogs, in bookshop windows and front-of-store displays, in literature festival lineups, in prize submissions.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s a topic that has had some press of late. </p>
<p>Author Nicola Griffith made headlines in late May when she <a href="http://nicolagriffith.com/2015/05/26/books-about-women-tend-not-to-win-awards/">revealed </a> that “when women win literary awards for fiction it’s usually for writing from a male perspective and/or about men”. </p>
<p>Griffith’s findings, which are based on the last 15 years of Pulitzer Prize, Man Booker Prize, National Book Award, National Book Critics’ Circle Award, Hugo Award, and Newbery Medal, are congruent with my own research into which kinds of books tend to win literary prizes.</p>
<p>It is, sadly, unsurprising that male writers <a href="https://theconversation.com/women-still-need-to-fight-for-publishing-deals-and-book-prizes-42836">win more prestigious literary awards</a> than female writers, but what is interesting is that when women do win these awards, it is typically because they write about male characters, or “masculine” topics. </p>
<p>Focusing on recent examples we can see this pattern quite clearly. Donna Tartt’s <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17333223-the-goldfinch">The Goldfinch</a> (2013) follows a young boy and most reviews of the book describe Tartt’s style as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/books/the-goldfinch-a-dickensian-novel-by-donna-tartt.html">“Dickensian”</a>; Jennifer Egan’s <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7331435-a-visit-from-the-goon-squad">A Visit from the Goon Squad</a> (2010) features both male and female protagonists as do Elizabeth Strout’s <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7331435-a-visit-from-the-goon-squad">Olive Kitteridge</a> (2008) and Jhumpa Lahiri’s <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5439.Interpreter_of_Maladies">Interpreter of Maladies</a> (1999). </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84796/original/image-20150612-11433-wbvybl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84796/original/image-20150612-11433-wbvybl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84796/original/image-20150612-11433-wbvybl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84796/original/image-20150612-11433-wbvybl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84796/original/image-20150612-11433-wbvybl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84796/original/image-20150612-11433-wbvybl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84796/original/image-20150612-11433-wbvybl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84796/original/image-20150612-11433-wbvybl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alexis Wright.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Dean Lewins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Geraldine Brooks and Marilynne Robinson have won prizes for <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13529.March">March</a> (2005) and <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68210.Gilead">Gilead</a> (2004) respectively, both of which focus on the novels’ male characters. The Australian women who have won the <a href="http://www.milesfranklin.com.au/about_pastwinners_NEW">Miles Franklin</a> for the last 20 years focus almost exclusively on capital-H “History”; Anna Funder’s <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11815113-all-that-i-am">All that I Am</a> (2012); Alexis Wright’s <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/633484.Carpentaria">Carpentaria</a> (2006), Shirley Hazzard’s <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/142975.The_Great_Fire">The Great Fire</a> (2003) and Helen Demidenko’s infamous <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1294359.The_Hand_That_Signed_the_Paper">The Hand that Signed the Paper</a> (1995). </p>
<p>Other female winners have had stories set in the rugged landscape of the Australian bush: Evie Wyld’s <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18142324-all-the-birds-singing">All the Birds, Singing</a> (2014) and Thea Astley’s <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2888577-drylands">Drylands</a> (2000); a setting which has almost become synonymous with Australian Literature, and is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Women-Bush-Australian-Cultural-Tradition/dp/0521368162">notorious</a> for omitting the experiences of women. </p>
<p>Hilary Mantel has <a href="http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/hilary-mantel-wins-2012-man-booker-prize">won the Booker twice</a> for her novels which focus on Thomas Cromwell, and Eleanor Catton’s award winning <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17333230-the-luminaries">The Luminaries</a> (2013) also centres its story on men. </p>
<p>It seems that, as a culture, we are still predominantly concerned with the lives of men or in themes that we view as “masculine” or “wordly”. We still relegate women’s work to the domestic, the interior, the personal. </p>
<p>Author Pankaj Mishra <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/books/review/is-there-a-double-standard-for-judging-domestic-themes-in-fiction.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fbookends">argued in the New York Times</a> in May that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Novels about suburban families are more likely to be greeted as microcosmic explorations of the human condition if they are by male writers; their female counterparts are rarely allowed to transcend the category of domestic fiction.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But in looking at the data of the history of these awards, I noticed a sharp spike in women winning these awards between 1970 and 1980, inclusive. </p>
<p>In this decade, the <a href="http://www.themanbookerprize.com/timeline">Man/Booker</a> was awarded to five women and seven men; the <a href="http://www.milesfranklin.com.au/about_pastwinners_NEW">Miles Franklin</a> went to six novels by men and four by women, while in the US the <a href="http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1970">Pulitzer</a> went to six male authors and two female ones, but the period between 1970 and 1980 saw three years, 1971, 1974 and 1977 where the Pulitzer was not awarded to any book, which, <a href="http://www.pulitzer.org/faq#q21">according</a> to the Pulitzer Prize committee, means that no one book was able to “gain a majority vote of the Pulitzer Prize Board”. </p>
<p>Interestingly many of the prize-winning books by women authors at this time featured female characters. This surge of respect for female authors happened at the same time as the formal criticism of the literary canon became widely published and new publishers such as <a href="http://www.virago.co.uk/">Virago</a> and <a href="http://www.stephaniedowrick.com/stephanie-dowrick/interview/">The Women’s Press</a> began prioritising women’s writing. </p>
<p>As Pam Morris wrote in <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Literature_and_Feminism.html?id=p1B5QgAACAAJ&hl=en">Literature and Feminism</a> (1993):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Feminist literary criticism as a recognisable practice begins at the end of the 1960s with the project of rereading the traditional canon of “great” literary texts, challenging their claims to disinterestedness and questioning their authority as always the best of human thought and expression. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>We see this in the ideological shift in the award-giving culture at this time, and it is positive proof that sustained investigation into an industry works. But it also reminds us that without this examination things quickly revert to type. </p>
<p>Shamsie’s provocation about publishing only female writers for a year has generated much reflection already but – over and above this – what happens if women writers produce an over-abundance of books about men? We stay mired in the same kind of ideological swamp in which we find ourselves now. </p>
<p>It’s not enough to publish books by women, we need to focus more on telling women’s stories. Researchers from the New York New School for Social Research <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6156/377.abstract">have shown</a> that reading literary fiction (over popular fiction):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>enhances the ability to detect and understand other people’s emotions, a crucial skill in navigating complex social relationships.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One of the study’s investigators, David Comer Kidd, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/oct/08/literary-fiction-improves-empathy-study">argued </a>that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the same psychological processes are used to navigate fiction and real relationships. Fiction is not just a simulator of a social experience, it is a social experience. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While these studies have not looked at gender and empathy, I would hazard a guess that a reader’s ability to view female characters as complex, layered, intellectual beings would have a profound effect on how they view actual women. </p>
<p>In a culture that still fetishes women’s appearance, in which women are under-represented on boards, in government and are over-represented as victims of sexual crime, knowing what women think, valuing it, is, I think, one of the most important things we can do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Kon-yu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
We know that male writers win more prestigious literary awards than female writers, but sadly, when women do win, it’s typically because they write about male characters, or “masculine’ topics.
Natalie Kon-yu, Lecturer in Creative Writing, Literature and Gender Studies, Victoria University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.