![]() This anthology had a title that instantly held my attention, and its contents kept that attention with their range and intrigue. The collection’s introduction informs readers on how to approach said content, or at least informs how I might soak in the cultural context of these women writers and their stories with the intent of applying it to my thesis research. In the introduction, written by the anthology’s editor Theodora Goss, an examination of these feminist writers’ work takes into account how countercultural their representations of women were in their Victorian times. The featured writers range from Kate Chopin, Mary Coleridge, Edith Wharton, Charlotte Mew, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Virginia Woolf, among others. Goss provides a framework for understanding how their poems and short stories fit within the concept of being “Medusa’s Daughters” in a sense of continuing the idea of portraying the feminine in monstrous ways. Goss points out that “[s]ometimes the angel contains the monster” (iii), and “[p]aradoxically, while patriarchy creates the female monster, she can also function as a symbol of female power and rebellion” (iv). Issues of patriarchal power struggles have been wrestled with in literature time and again, but this anthology does a wonderful job of including pieces that feel like they’re in conversation with each other, through the characters and tones as well as personalities of their authors that shine through in sometimes subtle, other times less subtle ways. Scattered footnotes are incredibly helpful for providing historical context as well, especially for some of the poems that rely heavily on folklore beyond standard knowledge of Greek reaches. In her introduction, Goss describes the following themes found in the anthology’s collected works to “weave in and out of the stories like serpents” (vi): “The silencing of women… The violence of the patriarchy… The danger of femininity… Doubling and the shadow… The deadly female gaze… The company of women… The witch and/as the goddess… The problem of love… The power of imagination… The changeling as outsider… The return of the (un)dead… [and] The victorious fairytale heroine…” (vi-xv). Of this list, the themes that seem most connected to my Sirens and their countercultural nature include “The danger of femininity… The deadly female gaze… The company of omen [and] The return of the (un)dead,” (ix-xiv) with specific attention given to the creation story of my Sirens having to do with a breathing of life back into women who have died. The company my Sirens keep with each other is also reflective of what Goss describes as “liberating: that women living together experience a sort of Amazonian freedom” (x). Goss also brings up the concept of the femme fatale, which should not be overlooked in a conversation such as this one: “The femme fatale, literally ‘deadly woman,’ has a long tradition in literature and art, from the Sirens of The Odyssey to film actresses such as Theda Bara…” (ix). One of the most ffascinating parts of this introduction to me is Goss’ direct comparison of the female writers in the anthology to a Siren-like creature: “...the categories of woman and writer were symbolically incompatible in Victorian society. After all, an angel has no need to write. Therefore, a woman writer must be a monster: female above the surface but with a fish tale below” (xiv). That is just so cool to me! To meld a female writer breaking the bounds of what’s expected of her societal place and artistic desires to the kind of creature she very well may create and then bring to life on her page! I won't detail my thoughts on the many poems and short stories here, cause there's a lot I could get into, but I think my opinions and analysis of the introduction here covers a lot of my thoughts. Yay for thesis research! One of my favorite quotes from Vernon Lee’s (Violet Paget’s) short story “Dionea”: “‘Love is salt, like sea-water—I drink and I die of thirst… Water! water! Yet the more I drink, the more I burn. Love! thou art bitter as the seaweed” (57).
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AuthorHey, everyone! I'm a writing and literature student at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California. When I'm not reading or writing, I'm probably watching movies, surfing, singing, or listening to Tchaikovsky and Laufey. Archives
February 2025
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