Bibliography
Jul. 29th, 2013 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_lady_lilyLady Susan – Jane Austen
This is a piece of Austen juvenilia that I didn't know existed until Twitter told me, at which point I thought I'd have a go. It's also the first book that I've read via the Kindle function on my new smartphone, which says something about its smallness - I think there's something to be said for micro-fiction and short stories as an easy read for such circumstances.
Lady Susan demonstrates all the hallmarks of what will become High Austen - a concern with the marriage market, what women are to do, back-biting, double standards, concerns of propriety and so on. It's an epistolary novel, so part of the fun is seeing the difference between what the correspondents say to each other on paper and in person, and constructing a 'truthful' version of events from the various viewpoints. It is, in places, marvellously bitchy. There is an epilogue in which all loose ends are cheerfully tied up, but that's only to be expected. I rather enjoyed it as a light but scathing look at the sorts of things Austen goes on to explore in a rather dryer fashion later in her work.
The Forgotten Queens of Islam – Fatima Mernissi
I have read Mernissi's autobiograpy recently, and figured that this looked like another good one. It is. There is a fine negotiation of style that I am frankly in awe of - dancing between intimate and conspiratorial feminine one minute, firmly academic and in control of the facts the next, weaving in the writer's personality and position/investment in the debate, and just generally giving a really insightful view into the issue of women's relationship to power in Islam. See, this all started when Benazir Bhutto won the election in Pakistan, and people suddenly started muttering about how a woman had never held political power. Actually, says Mernissi, come back with me into the archives and let's have a look at this 'ere statement and see how much water it actually holds.
The answer is immensely complicated, depending on whether you're talking about Sunni or Shiite Muslim tradition, which area of the Muslim world you're talking about and thus which cultural context you're looking at, how far away from the Prophet you get... there are no easy answers, but there are a few women who meet the strict criteria for being called Queens, and plenty more who have more or less all of them. Mernissi does an excellent job of untangling the complex web of divine versus earthly power which complicates the question of female rulers in Islamic history, explaining why the issues are there, and why they still create problems for political discourse today.
I picked this up hoping to see some parallels with the discussion of the rise of female politicians (sort of) in the early imperial world, but have come away going 'good heavens, I understand so much more of the political milieu going on in the discussions in the news right now'. Definitely worth a read - Mernissi still has pertinent things to say to us, despite it being published over fifteen years ago.
This is a piece of Austen juvenilia that I didn't know existed until Twitter told me, at which point I thought I'd have a go. It's also the first book that I've read via the Kindle function on my new smartphone, which says something about its smallness - I think there's something to be said for micro-fiction and short stories as an easy read for such circumstances.
Lady Susan demonstrates all the hallmarks of what will become High Austen - a concern with the marriage market, what women are to do, back-biting, double standards, concerns of propriety and so on. It's an epistolary novel, so part of the fun is seeing the difference between what the correspondents say to each other on paper and in person, and constructing a 'truthful' version of events from the various viewpoints. It is, in places, marvellously bitchy. There is an epilogue in which all loose ends are cheerfully tied up, but that's only to be expected. I rather enjoyed it as a light but scathing look at the sorts of things Austen goes on to explore in a rather dryer fashion later in her work.
The Forgotten Queens of Islam – Fatima Mernissi
I have read Mernissi's autobiograpy recently, and figured that this looked like another good one. It is. There is a fine negotiation of style that I am frankly in awe of - dancing between intimate and conspiratorial feminine one minute, firmly academic and in control of the facts the next, weaving in the writer's personality and position/investment in the debate, and just generally giving a really insightful view into the issue of women's relationship to power in Islam. See, this all started when Benazir Bhutto won the election in Pakistan, and people suddenly started muttering about how a woman had never held political power. Actually, says Mernissi, come back with me into the archives and let's have a look at this 'ere statement and see how much water it actually holds.
The answer is immensely complicated, depending on whether you're talking about Sunni or Shiite Muslim tradition, which area of the Muslim world you're talking about and thus which cultural context you're looking at, how far away from the Prophet you get... there are no easy answers, but there are a few women who meet the strict criteria for being called Queens, and plenty more who have more or less all of them. Mernissi does an excellent job of untangling the complex web of divine versus earthly power which complicates the question of female rulers in Islamic history, explaining why the issues are there, and why they still create problems for political discourse today.
I picked this up hoping to see some parallels with the discussion of the rise of female politicians (sort of) in the early imperial world, but have come away going 'good heavens, I understand so much more of the political milieu going on in the discussions in the news right now'. Definitely worth a read - Mernissi still has pertinent things to say to us, despite it being published over fifteen years ago.
