This one's for the girls: a salute to women writers and female characters: part one

I experienced a strange jolt yesterday.

I was looking through titles on my nook to find author information. (Admission: I pay much more attention to topics than authors in most cases). As I scrolled through the titles, I found myself surprised at the number of women writers. For some reason, I had assigned male voices to some of the texts, assumed (on some level) that it would require male authority to properly dig into and present these subjects.

Unfortunate as my assumptions were, this isn't an uncommon thing; ask a group of people to draw what they think of when you say the words "police officer" or "fire fighter;" most will draw a male figure. Still, I was surprised and a little unsettled to find that my mind automatically assumed that these bright, vibrant, insightful voices were male voices. So, today's post is a sort of repentance (that's the exaggerated view) or (in the less dramatic view) at least a way of refocusing, reminding myself about some wonderful female voices -- and passing them on to you!

As a Victorianist, I'd be remiss if I didn't start my list with George Eliot. A dear teacher and friend (and fairy godmother) placed a copy of Middlemarch in my hands in the ninth grade and I've returned to that town almost every year since. In my opinion, it's a great text for marking one's developments on the way to womanhood. When I first began reading, my sympathies were wholly with the characters lost to romance (Dorothea, Fred) but as I've grown up, I've shifted alliances and now sorrow with Farebrother (who would have made a far better husband) and smile at the wisdom of Celia.

I'll be alternating authors and characters, so next up is She-Ra Princess of
Power, who appeared in a series of pastel-colored Golden Books on my very first bookshelf. I doubt I recognized She-Ra as any kind of feminist symbol when I was a young girl, but it's worth noting that her creators felt the need to give her far more powers and accessories than her twin brother had any need for. Perhaps this was pure commercialism - selling lots of gadgets to little girls - but maybe they were saying something about how neglected the concept of a strong female had become and were trying to make up ground very fast. A similar heroine (though I had only one book in which she was featured) was Golden Girl. 

 In some ways female authors (and characters) were absented from my early reading life because I was such a fan of science fiction and fantasy. In the late 80s and early 90s the default audience for such genres was male. I think the scales have tipped a little, but I'm still waiting for a female epic hero or a female quest on par with Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, or Star Wars. My preference for "slash" fan fiction and its male/male pairings also limits those female characters I come in contact with (though not female authors!). Flewelling's Nightrunner series features just such a pairing. It is well-paced, the characters are three-dimensional, and it seemed to open up mainstream fantasy for LGBTQ characters.

Robert E. Howard's Conan caused a big controversy in my family. I was introduced to Conan by my stepdad (the barbarian even had a cartoon show back then!) and my uncle had a closet full of old paperbacks that he was happy to lend me. I'd read dozens of these titles when my aunt and my mom caught on to the fact that there was some controversial content in Conan. What they failed to realize was that I was too young to register the controversy; it went right over my head. So, they banned Conan for awhile (leading me to turn around and get in trouble over Follow the River... whoops!) and I turned to Red Sonja in his place. I don't recall enjoying her adventures as much as I enjoyed Conan's (although some of the best writers in fantasy were writing Conan then), but I'm certain that her sword-wielding had an influence on the creation of my own heroine!

Mercedes Lackey was a huge influence on my early writing and I still go back to this series on rainy days when I need something comforting. She does a wonderful job with the hero(ine)'s journey, creating a full cast/ culture in the heralds, and exploring friendship and romance.

Illustrated here in the Rankin and Bass film The Last Unicorn, the Lady Amalthea was also a huge influence on the development of my heroine, aesthetically and in the sense of being torn between two states: mortal and immortal, human and magic.

I find Gluck's poems haunting, unsettling, disturbing... but magnetic, too. She's one of the very few poets I keep on the shelf. For a glimpse at how women appear in her works, head here: Louise Gluck's "Horse".

Timmain in all of her ethereal beauty is difficult to see in the image above, but she, like Amalthea, had a huge influence on the development of my heroine -- and I'm still reading about her today! Indeed, I would nominate ElfQuest for the best portrayal of women in fiction -- perhaps in all of literature. Others have discussed that very thing here: "The Powerful Women of ElfQuest".