<snip>
> If you have
> any comments on whether the Feminist Press should reissue Native Tongue,
> and why, please let me know and I'll make sure Susan hears about it--
>
> Thanks,
> Beth
For feminist sci fi readers, I think this question is, as some people I
know say, a "no-brainer." But I thought I'd try to contribute some help on
the "why" question.
First, I personally consider Native Tongue to be one of the "classics" of
feminist science fiction. I realize classic is a loaded term, and of
course open to contention, but what I mean by the term is that Native
Tongue was one of the early works that helped define the genre, and is
rich and substantial enough to bear many re-readings. I found and
continue to find it very thought-provoking.
Along the same lines, I have no evidence for this, but I wouldn't be
surprised if it's on most syllabi for courses in feminist science fiction
in the U.S. -- or would be if it were in print! Perhaps this will help
with the question of the market for the book(s).
Third, despite helping to define the genre, Native Tongue (and its
sequels) is really quite unique among feminist science fiction novels.
There are many themes and issues that are explored over and over again in
femscifi (not necessarily a bad thing, of course) -- but Native Tongue is
the only book that I'm aware of that takes on the issue of the
relationship between gender systems, language, and the construction of
"reality" in any depth. (Samuel Delaney might be the only other contender,
but he deals with such things in a radically different way.)
Finally, I think one of the great strengths of the first book in
particular is that it conveys pretty sophisticated ideas in linguistics in
a very accessible way. The one time (so far) that I was lucky enough to
be able to teach a course in feminist science fiction, my students -- who
to my disappointment were not very receptive to a number of other books I
asked them to read -- responded quite well to Native Tongue. It made them
think, but also got them interested and involved enough to not resent the
effort of doing so!
Hope this helps.
--- Cheryl Hall Department of Government & International Affairs University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620 ph:(813) 974-0819 fax:(813) 974-0832
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:55 PDT