Dear Jo-Ann,
The name of the character is Janet, her wife is Vittoria, and Janet has
absolutely no conception of "fatherhood" or indeed gender roles (until she
visited Jeannine's depression era world, and Joanna's world which
is roughly cognate with our own). Needless to say Janet gets a rude
education! Also interesting from a
family point of view is Jeannine's family, who can conceptualise J. only
in terms of
her male relationships.After all, Jeannine (if married) might one day
get a kitchenette of her own. Russ gives a very biting, satirical analysis
of "family values" while providing new models (still in the two parent
mode through). Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time also
reconceptualises ideas of the "family" by making reproduction
technological.
What do people think of Russ's conceptualisation of female subjectivity?
One
writer (Marilyn somebody, in her very good preface to the FM) suggested
that the 4 J's together would constitute one unified
female subject- an ideal which current conditions make impossible. Other
critics see Russ as completely debunking any idea of stable subjectivity,
utopian or otherwise.
On the other hand, Russ's oxymoronic project to become a "female man"
seems to reach towards females becoming human, suggesting (of course)
that they are not human so far but also suggesting that humanity is
something stable to be reached for.
I find this book very hard to pin down (and hence extremely interesting).
Tanya.
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