Ebook Outsiders Five Women Writers Who Changed the World eBook Lyndall Gordon

Product details File Size 7215 KB Print Length 352 pages Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press (March 19, 2019) Publication Date March 19, 2019 Language English ASIN B07KMDKGZ8

Outsiders Five Women Writers Who Changed the World eBook Lyndall Gordon Reviews

• What a great book cover! I picked it up for that reason alone. Lyndall Gordon's book is an examination of five female authors who, in her estimation, "changed the world." The five are Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte, Virginia Woolf, George Eliot and Olive Schreiner. You've probably heard of the first four, the fifth I hadn't ever heard of. She categorizes them as Prodigy (Shelley), Visionary (Bronte), Outlaw (Eliot), Explorer (Woolf) and Orator (Schreiner).
  
  As the publisher of this work is John Hopkins University Press, I'm assuming this book is an outgrowth of a dissertation or lecture series. The writing, while colorful, carries all the hallmarks of this genre. While readable, the text definitely has academic purpose. The reader should be conversant with the women's works, or else you might be lost; the author assumes the reader is familiar with them. From chapter to chapter, the author links the authors through some characteristic, life event or literary mentorship. In a popular work of nonfiction, I don't think these links would even be necessary.
  
  All in all, read this book for its portraits of these writers as women who defied the conventions of their time and worlds. Whether you're familiar with their books or not, you can admire the conviction and courage it took to live unconventional lives that placed them outside the bounds of acceptable society.
• I began reading this book hoping for a comparative biography of five groundbreaking women authors who had defied the shackles of their rigid societies and found ways to thrive through reading and writing. I suppose I got most of that but not quite in the way I was expecting.
  
  This reads like a textbook or series of connected essays. Each of the women’s stories is covered thoroughly and biographical elements are fleshed out in thorough detail. But the focus is on how each of them, in their own ways, rejected the norms of the society and times they were living in and embraced their outsider status. For some, this was a conscious decision while others were more-or-less reacting to circumstances. Throughout the book there is a strong streak of feminism, especially for the later authors who lived through the beginnings of the women’s suffragist movement.
  
  I was happy with the content that the author delivered. I am less enthusiastic about the style. This is not an easy read and I frequently found myself re-reading paragraphs to make sure I understood the material. At times I felt like I was reading this as part of a graduate-level course on Literature or Women’s Studies. Given the author’s background and status as a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a fellow of St. Hilda’s College in Oxford, this is hardly surprising. In the end, I would have preferred a more grounded biography and less of an academic approach.
• Gordon offers some interesting biographies of five women writers who advanced the feminist movement. She progresses through time, from Mary Shelley to Virginia Woolf. I love the way she ties the women together by showing how earlier writers influenced the views of the younger writers.
  
  Each biography stands well on its own. I’ve read longer or shorter bios of Shelley, Bronte and Woolf. I did get a bit of feeling that Gordon was perhaps trying to present these women in a specific light, generally that conveyed by the title of each chapter
  1) Prodigy – Mary Shelley
  2) Visionary – Emily Bronte
  3) ‘Outlaw’ – George Eliot
  4) Orator – Olive Schreiner
  5) Explorer – Virginia Woolf
  
  This book does focus much more on the author herself and what influenced her viewpoints and her writing, than on the writing itself. This is not a literature review by any means, but it’s not presented that way.
  
  Overall, a worthwhile read for those interested in feminism as well as those with an interest in any of these authors. The influences between the authors are quite interesting. These authors were very different in some ways, but they had intertwined, or even the same, longterm goals. I found the way that their different worldviews influenced their choices quite interesting.
  
  But that’s JustMe.
• Lyndall Gordon describes the private lives and professional careers of five prominent women writers. She highlights many of the similarities between the lives and works of these authors even though they were from different generations. Gordon’s book stimulates an interest in the writings of the authors she chronicles. Gordon’s own writing style, however, is distracting. Her abrupt transitions often make it difficult to follow to whom she is referring. The lack of a smooth flowing narrative creates a jumble of facts and observations. Most disappointing is the failure of Gordon to explicitly address the claim of the book’s subtitle and describe how these women changed the world. Gordon tells of the women’s accomplishments but not of their impact. Gordon’s portraits do provide readers with examples of courageous women who dared to live authentic lives and, as a result, were compelled by society to live as outsiders.
• In the past, women who ventured beyond the accepted boundaries became outsiders, whether they wanted to be or not. In Outsiders, Lyndall Gordon examines the careers of five women who were outsiders in their societies, and how they paved the way for others. Like many who read this book, I knew four of the writers, but was not familiar with Olive Schreiner. The five were outsiders in more than their aspirations and accomplishments. Some refused to wear corsets, others made friends with "unsuitable" people. They all grew up without a mother. All wrote books that transcended the safe space of "women's novels," nd experimented with style and genre. At times the book is academic and ponderous, but then it picks up speed and sprinkles in some fascinating tidbits or sparkling analysis. Well worth a look for a fresh take on five renegade writers.