NH: Someone said Emma Bull's _Bone Dance._ I second that emotion. Don't
want to spoil it for anyone, but you're a good chunk into something that
might be just a good action/intrigue piece before you're smack dab up
against your own gender biases. Sounds like you did a bit of
bait-and-switch with your students by using _Kindred._ I've heard Samuel
Delany say that _China Mountain Zhang_ is the novel that's most popular
with his students. It could, I think, perform a similar function; get
wary readers focussed on the mixed race and disempowered youth issues,
but also get them thinking about societal pressures to conform to one
mode of sexual expression. (Oh, and the cover for the pbk edition of
_Bone Dance_ is most emphatically not one of the babe-in-brass-bra
types.) Kim Stanley Robinson's _Pacific Edge._ I haven't read the rest
of the trilogy, and I don't know what the hell I'm waiting for. I find
his sheer wordcraft enchanting, and for the rest, (pace anyone whose
descriptions might be more accurate than mine) it's an eco-conscious
novel that paints the universe in a drop of water by detailing the
personal and political conflicts amongst the members of a small town
council in a utopic (California? I learned a different geography than
American). Sounds dry, but it's juicy. And, I think, humanist--is that
a word?--in that it speaks to feminism, and looks at ageism and sizeism
too. And, um, _Dune?_ Not claiming that it's feminist, but if only for
the Bene Gesserit witches...could lead to some interesting discussions on
women wielding power.
-nalo
On Mon, 21 Apr 1997, lissa bloomer wrote:
> to nalo's comment (which follows):
>
> yes, they are literate! and bright! and witty! but so frightened of
> anything that brushes next to feminism. i am sneaky, as you would be... the
> first book that i slipped in there was Octavia Butler's _Kindred_. worked
> amazingly well. do you have other titles that might be slipped in -- that
> you think are a bit more subtle, than say, _Motherlines_ ??? keep in mind,
> sf is so very new to me. (but my appetite is insatiable.)
>
> -lissa bloomer
>
>
>
>
> >NH: From my perspective as a non-academic, that doesn't sound too bad.
> >They are literate, many of them are reading either for fun or some other
> >goal, and much of that reading leads well into sf (King,
> >Crichton...Eyre?). Me, I'd be tempted to be sneaky; slip 'em something
> >that uses many of the same tropes as the writing to which they are
> >accustomed, but which starts to be more sf, and to introduce issues to
> >which you want to expose them.
> >
> >-nalo
> >
> >
> >
> >On Mon, 21 Apr 1997, lissa bloomer wrote:
> >
> >> >NH: Do you know what they do read?
> >>
> >> hi nalo et al,
> >> in my questionnaire/contract i ask my students (freshpersons) what they
> >> read... usually in a class of 25, 5 have never read a novel all the way
> >> through, 15 of them (all young men) read Stephen King, Tom Clancy, and
> >> Michael Crichton... and the young women (the 7-10 -- women are a minority
> >> still here, though not by much) usually report texts that they read as
> >> assignments (Hamlet, Macbeth, Jane Eyre, 1984, Scarlet Letter.... canon
> >> stuff). of 25, about 5 seem to be avid readers. by the end of the semester,
> >> i think i have changed that -- perhaps my proudest aspect of teaching.
> >>
> >> if i'm lucky, i'll get one student who has read sci-fi. and it's usually a
> >> young male who reads Heinlein. (one of whom introduced me to the works of
> >> Giger -- the artist for the movie "Alien")(perhaps the only visual artist
> >> who could be labelled science fiction feminist???)(anyone know of
> >> others???)
> >>
> >> i wish wish wish i had more students who came to the class as avid
> >> readers-- and sci-fi readers. it's one of my goals to change this.
> >>
> >> -lissa bloomer
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> if you're wearing pants, thank my great great great grandmother.
> >>
> >> elisabeth bloomer
> >> instructor, english
> >> virginia tech
> >> ebloomer@vt.edu
> >> 540.231.2445
> >>
>
>
>
>
> if you're wearing pants, thank my great great great grandmother.
>
> elisabeth bloomer
> instructor, english
> virginia tech
> ebloomer@vt.edu
> 540.231.2445
>
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