Conference turris::womannotes-v2

I second the reference for _The Women's Review of Books_ -- not only
does it let me know about new, feminist-oriented books, but I find
the perspectives of the reviewers interesting (they're pretty varied).
The letters to the editors get pretty lively with vigorous
discussion (:-)) of reviewers' perspectives -- it's great for opening
my eyes to different points of view (as opposed to some 
other review forums, where the review stands alone as a more or less
absolute judgement).

	MKV

In last Sunday's Boston Globe, on the first page of the Arts section, is an 
article about a woman teaching stories by forgotten 19th century women
writers. Karen Oakes teaches American literature at Colby College in
Waterville, Maine. According to Oakes, "Emerson, Thoreau, Melville and
Hawthorne...are authors held forever separate and true in American
literature by a white male academic elite," while "the names [Alice] Brown,
[Rose Terry] Cooke, [Elizabeth] Wilkins and [Sarah Orne] Jewett mean
nothing to most people. Yet they represent the now-silenced voices of 19th
century New England women." 

Oakes claims that while the male writers' all-male heroes were off 
confronting whales, exploring the West, or fighting in the Civil War, women 
writers wrote about what life was like at home. "Theirs are stories of 
lives lived out in frightening loneliness or under the equally frightening 
reign of drunken and abusive husbands; lives lived out, in either case, 
beneath the pious gaze of a ruling class of men who were the judges, 
constables and mill owners, the deacons and the selectmen."

The author of this article writes that "There is no widely taught body of 
writing by women of that age to show us what life was like for those who 
lived on isolated farms and morally rigid villages....one reason men in 
power at universities have not wanted to hear the voices of the women 
writers is that they do not portray men as heroic or even, for the most 
part, favorably."

I wish the author had cited more specific sources of works by these women
-- she does name some of their stories, but not the collections they're
published in. The only one I've heard of is Sarah Orne Jewett, whose book
The Country of the Pointed Firs (about life in a Maine coastal village) I
think is a real gem. 

Dorian

    
    	I'm not absolutely positively sure if this is the topic to ask 
    	this in and a thousand apologies (and/or lashes, I'm easy =8-)) 
    	if it isn't, but does anyone in Colorado know where I can get 
    	reprints of Georgia O'Keefe's artwork?
    
    	Carla
    

    
    I don't know about Colorado but there's a new book out called 100
    Flowers, containing just that -- 100 of her wonderful paintings
    of flowers. There seem to be a lot of calendars featuring her work
    too (again, mostly flowers) this year, I'd think bookstores would
    carry them.
    
    Good luck finding them!
    
    Dorian

    
    	Dorian, that's exactly what prompted me to ask where I can find
    	BIG reprints to hang on my walls!  It really is a great book.
    
    	Carla
    

    Oh! Well...I know I've seen a poster-size enlargement of at least
    one of her flower paintings, a red poppy I think. Around here (MA)
    these posters turn up in bookstores or stationery stores. They
    cost about $10 and are mounted on cardboard and covered with clear 
    plastic. Or maybe an art store would have such?

   re:  Georgia O'Keefe posters...
   
   Try the gift shop at your local museum...
   
   /bruce

    If you wish, see also
    
    womannotes-V1
    31 - read any good books lately?
    801 - book recommendations  (this one lists feminist books)
    
    womannotes-V2
    70.* - (as mentioned before)
    11 - resources (title should state what kind)
    
    -Jody
    

   re:  Georgia O'Keefe posters...

	Since the DAM (Denver Art Museum) has some (more than one)
	of her works they should have some posters.  Call them for
	a catalog.  You should also check with the University of
	Colorado, Bolder (my spelling is bad) book store.

	In the book the paintings have information about them by
	the name, check and see if any are resident in your area
	or contact the museum where they live about prints.

	There is also a book out this year about her and it has
	one of the skulls on the cover.  Last year was the 100th
	anniversary of her birth.

	She has a great face.

	_peggy

		(-)
		 |
			She painted the beauty of the Goddess
			with virbrant colors.

    
    	Thanks heaps for the pointers.  I'll start with the Denver Art
    	Museum.
    
    	Carla
    

Yesterday in the library I came across a good book...

	Women Together, Women Alone
	  by Anita Shreve, 1989.

This book is an update on the consciousness-raising ("CR") groups that were
common in the late 60s and 70s. Shreve interviews seven women who attended
CR groups then, brings them together again nearly two decades later for a
reunion, and discusses how their lives and their attitudes towards such
topics as female images, sex, motherhood, rape, work, and so on have
changed in that period. Shreve concludes that for the most part CR meetings
don't happen any more, but that many women miss them and there are
movements afoot to bring them back. Her last chapter is a "blueprint" for
CR meetings in the 90s, with suggestions for subjects to discuss. 

The book is very down to earth and clearly written. One chapter includes a
discussion of "feminism" and first-hand reports from many individual women on
what the term and the concept meant to them in the past and what they mean
now. 

Dorian