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Joanna Russ, 1937-2011
Apr. 29th, 2011 08:11 pmLocus obituary
I can't even remember when I first encountered the work of Joanna Russ. It is fair to assume that it may have had something to do with attending Mount Holyoke. I collect books from the Women's Press in a desultory way, so encountered a thing or two that way, and it would have been impossible to care about feminism without at least hearing of How to Suppress Women's Writing and The Female Man.
Once, in a half-width bookstore going out of business, I found a copy of Kittatinny. I don't think I've ever heard anyone else mention it.
Russ interviewed by Delany, Wiscon 30
But the first time she became personally important to me was when I attended Wiscon 30, a thing I did basically to see my friends without realizing how it would affect me. I found that there were feminist elders in the world, real people I could meet, and attending the interview above was a big part of that. How can I explain the sense of connection, of no longer abstract involvement with real other women who care about the same things I did? Even though I'm still standoffish, I feel very different having seen people than I did having only read words.
Sometimes it's right to be angry. Things are fucked up. Bullshit and belittling are real.
People are with you.
I can't even remember when I first encountered the work of Joanna Russ. It is fair to assume that it may have had something to do with attending Mount Holyoke. I collect books from the Women's Press in a desultory way, so encountered a thing or two that way, and it would have been impossible to care about feminism without at least hearing of How to Suppress Women's Writing and The Female Man.
Once, in a half-width bookstore going out of business, I found a copy of Kittatinny. I don't think I've ever heard anyone else mention it.
Russ interviewed by Delany, Wiscon 30
But the first time she became personally important to me was when I attended Wiscon 30, a thing I did basically to see my friends without realizing how it would affect me. I found that there were feminist elders in the world, real people I could meet, and attending the interview above was a big part of that. How can I explain the sense of connection, of no longer abstract involvement with real other women who care about the same things I did? Even though I'm still standoffish, I feel very different having seen people than I did having only read words.
Sometimes it's right to be angry. Things are fucked up. Bullshit and belittling are real.
People are with you.
