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Little Tales of Misogyny
The great revival of interest in Patricia Highsmith continues with the publication of this legendary, cultish short story collection. With an eerie simplicity of style, Highsmith turns our next-door neighbors into sadistic psychopaths, lying in wait among white picket fences and manicured lawns. In the darkly satiric, often mordantly hilarious sketches that make up Little
...moreHardcover, 144 pages
Published
April 1st 1986
by Mysterious Press
(first published 1975)
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"Little girls are born women, but little boys are not born men. They have to learn to be men. Little girls have already a woman's character"
This is a collection of 17 short tales of criticism to the position of woman in modern society, by Patricia Highsmith. Although written in the seventies, all the situations are perfectly valid today.
I borrowed this one from a local library, but I've liked it so much that I'm going right now to the bookshop to buy a copy to own.
The reason I've rated it "only...more
This is a collection of 17 short tales of criticism to the position of woman in modern society, by Patricia Highsmith. Although written in the seventies, all the situations are perfectly valid today.
I borrowed this one from a local library, but I've liked it so much that I'm going right now to the bookshop to buy a copy to own.
The reason I've rated it "only...more
Arch little vignettes about the women you love to hate ("The Prude,"The Female Novelist," "The Breeder"). I liked Highsmith's dark humor and ability to play on stereotypes, but felt slightly guilty about it. Ain't that just like a woman?
In Kurzgeschichten zeigt sich - mehr noch als in Romanen - das ganze schriftstellerische Können eines Autors.
"Little Tales of Mysogyny" ("Kleine Geschichten für Weiberfeinde") sind präzise, pointierte Mini-Gruslinge von Patricia Highsmith.
Wie es oft bei Sammlungen ist, ist nicht jede wirklich gelungen. Manche wirken weniger ausbalanciert ("Die Hand" zum Beispiel); wie es der Untertitel besagt, wie eine "weibliche Typenlehre" eben.
Alle Geschichten sind wunderbar ironisch und bilden einen sprachli...more
"Little Tales of Mysogyny" ("Kleine Geschichten für Weiberfeinde") sind präzise, pointierte Mini-Gruslinge von Patricia Highsmith.
Wie es oft bei Sammlungen ist, ist nicht jede wirklich gelungen. Manche wirken weniger ausbalanciert ("Die Hand" zum Beispiel); wie es der Untertitel besagt, wie eine "weibliche Typenlehre" eben.
Alle Geschichten sind wunderbar ironisch und bilden einen sprachli...more
The title of the book, Little Tales of Misogyny, while glib, is hardly meant to be ironic or misleading. Rather, the title tells you exactly what you’ll be getting from Patricia Highsmith this time around. A more bluntly literal title could not be wished for.
The book really does contain little tales of misogyny–14 such tales in fact, most of which range between 3 and 5 pages each. Furthermore, each does contain some instance of misogyny, but if you’re hoping to find a condensed version of storie...more
The book really does contain little tales of misogyny–14 such tales in fact, most of which range between 3 and 5 pages each. Furthermore, each does contain some instance of misogyny, but if you’re hoping to find a condensed version of storie...more
'Pequeños cuentos misóginos' de Patricia Highsmith, como su nombre indica, son una serie de 17 cuentos breves (algunos brevísimos, de sólo tres páginas) que describen arquetipos misóginos de mujeres. Cada uno de ellos está protagonizado por un estereotipo (odioso y odiable) de mujer (la ñoña, la perfeccionista, la perfecta señorita, la víctima, la prostituta autorizada o esposa, etc.) que es incapaz de salir de los límites que le marca el rol que le ha sido asignado (de hecho, ni siquiera se pla...more
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Borges lo sabía bien, el punto de vista del lector es una parte fundamental de la creación literaria sobre la que el autor no tiene control alguno. Patricia Highsmith escribió estos cuentos hace casi cuarenta años, y aunque haya lectores (o lectoras) actuales que se pregunten cómo pudo escribir una mujer tales historias, tal vez la pregunta más acertada sería si pudo no escribirlos. Publicados en la época álgida de las luchas feministas, esta obra se distingue de otras creaciones femeninas de lo...more
Mar 21, 2010
tENTATIVELY, cONVENIENCE
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
literature
After all the Highsmith I've read, I shd've known better than to've expected "Little Tales of Misogyny" to've been tales in wch MEN are the misogynists.. But, NO, I didn't expect the author's viewpoint to be misogynistic! Fool!
All sorts of catchy critic words spring to mind: "sardonic", "wicked", "wry", whatnot. The female characters just can't win - whatever they are, they're too much in one direction & most of them die untimely deaths b/c of it - often thru murder. These stories are SHORT...more
All sorts of catchy critic words spring to mind: "sardonic", "wicked", "wry", whatnot. The female characters just can't win - whatever they are, they're too much in one direction & most of them die untimely deaths b/c of it - often thru murder. These stories are SHORT...more
Jun 18, 2011
Ateiluj
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
adults
Recommended to Ateiluj by:
La Casa de Viena
"Pequeños Cuentos Misóginos" es un libro con 17 historias acerca de la vida de diferentes mujeres. Todas esas historias acaban con un final sorpresivo, irónico y crudo. Cada historia contiene un exquisito toque irónico, con el que se narran los ridículos acontecimientos de cada mujer. Algunas veces el hombre desempeña papeles de observador; en otras ocasiones, participa activamente en la historia. Pero el rol final que cada hombre toma en cada una de las historias es el de víctima. Aún cuando al...more
Algunos relatos (muchos, casi la mayoría) son duros e incluso crueles. La mujer, los diferentes estereotipos que Highsmith describe, no salen nada bien parados por una u otra razón. Aunque tampoco los hombres se libran en realidad.
Son brevísimos, al principio los cuentos no superan las tres carillas, aunque hacia la mitad y el final hay algunos un poco más largos. Precisamente estos fueron mis preferidos, muchos de lo más divertidos, con situaciones muy surrealistas pero, creo yo, con algo de ve...more
Son brevísimos, al principio los cuentos no superan las tres carillas, aunque hacia la mitad y el final hay algunos un poco más largos. Precisamente estos fueron mis preferidos, muchos de lo más divertidos, con situaciones muy surrealistas pero, creo yo, con algo de ve...more
Highsmith takes her spare writing style to an extreme here, presenting every character in a very matter of fact way. Even the descriptions are more like an inventory list. Here are the people, here is the situation, these are their things. In a way, that’s what makes the semi-satire work. Even though she became more cynical as she got older, I don’t buy the argument that she wrote these stories to be hateful towards women specifically, but rather that they’re her usual display of the awful ways...more
preferred the 1st ripley book to this, not for any particularly 'specific' reason, but because 1) i prefer novels & 2) highsmith seems to vent malice in a way that's almost generic in these short-shorts. there's something about the sympathy highsmith hangs on ripley that's far creepier than anything cooked up here.
here, we get hastily spun situations and irritatingly contemptible characters almost immediately killed off in nasty ways. the most closely 'misogynistic' story i find in here is...more
here, we get hastily spun situations and irritatingly contemptible characters almost immediately killed off in nasty ways. the most closely 'misogynistic' story i find in here is...more
"It was the truths that made the people grotesques. The moment one of the people took one of the truths to himself, called it his truth, and tried to live his life by it, he became a grotesque and the truth he embraced became a falsehood."
— Sherwood Anderson
In this collection of short stories, the talented Ms. Highsmith writes like Flannery O'Connor's evil twin. The sardonic authoress introduces a character, endows them with a lofty moral attribute and stands back to watch them self-destruct un...more
— Sherwood Anderson
In this collection of short stories, the talented Ms. Highsmith writes like Flannery O'Connor's evil twin. The sardonic authoress introduces a character, endows them with a lofty moral attribute and stands back to watch them self-destruct un...more
This is a ridiculously funny tiny collection of short stories on the idea of gender construction and identity. Basically if you are interested in those sort of themes then this little collection is brilliant.
This is such a strange book. I remember reading it in high school and being unsure of what Ms Highsmith's point was, and this latest reading has done nothing to demystify me. I think I'm choosing to see it as an exercise in the different, stereotypical ways women have been classically portrayed in fiction, but it's neither very illuminating nor, dare I say it, entertaining. It does have a habit of sticking with you, though, which is why I bought this copy and am hanging on to it without donating...more
Fotografie in bianco e nero delle orride paludosità femminili, che siano ambientate nella preistoria o ai nostri giorni.
Dall'indefessa fattrice, alla mantenuta, alla regina del focolare la fine, sia questa della protagonista o delle sue vittime, è atroce oltreché inevitabile.
L'odio pulsante se non la ripulsa per questo realissimo e agghiacciante campionario d'umanità sboccia immediato, rapinoso al pari di un linguaggio apparentemente semplice, in realtà perfetto nella sua voluta pacatezza.
L'orro...more
Dall'indefessa fattrice, alla mantenuta, alla regina del focolare la fine, sia questa della protagonista o delle sue vittime, è atroce oltreché inevitabile.
L'odio pulsante se non la ripulsa per questo realissimo e agghiacciante campionario d'umanità sboccia immediato, rapinoso al pari di un linguaggio apparentemente semplice, in realtà perfetto nella sua voluta pacatezza.
L'orro...more
Seventeen short stories, seventeen different women, the same offence everytime - being a woman.
Patricia Highsmith, the famed hater of women, or so they say. The Talented Ms Highsmith, the poet of apprehension (thank you Graham Greene,) and creator of countless literary psychological thrillers.
In her novels she takes time, slowly building the suspense and the tension page by page but some of these stories are only two pages long, instead she utilises her skill in observing and dissecting human b...more
Patricia Highsmith, the famed hater of women, or so they say. The Talented Ms Highsmith, the poet of apprehension (thank you Graham Greene,) and creator of countless literary psychological thrillers.
In her novels she takes time, slowly building the suspense and the tension page by page but some of these stories are only two pages long, instead she utilises her skill in observing and dissecting human b...more
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Μικρές, σύντομες ιστορίες, που παρουσιάζουν δίαφορες παραλλαγές της γυναίκας-παγίδας και της γυναίκας-θύμα.
Μου άρεσαν επίσης τα σουρρεάλ σκίτσα του Roland Topor που συνοδεύουν την κάθε ιστορία.
Δύο από τις ιστορίες μου θύμισαν το Women Without Men της Shahrnush Parsipur http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15... -> "Η σεμνότυφη" και οι μή παρθένες κόρες της, και η ιστορίας της "Ούνα, ή γυναίκα των σπηλαίων" που θεοποιήθηκε.
Μία άλλη ιστορία ("Το φορητό σκεύος") μου άνοιξε τα μάτια στο τί με εί...more
Μου άρεσαν επίσης τα σουρρεάλ σκίτσα του Roland Topor που συνοδεύουν την κάθε ιστορία.
Δύο από τις ιστορίες μου θύμισαν το Women Without Men της Shahrnush Parsipur http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15... -> "Η σεμνότυφη" και οι μή παρθένες κόρες της, και η ιστορίας της "Ούνα, ή γυναίκα των σπηλαίων" που θεοποιήθηκε.
Μία άλλη ιστορία ("Το φορητό σκεύος") μου άνοιξε τα μάτια στο τί με εί...more
Patricia Highsmith's all-too brief stories (3-4 pages apiece) brilliantly touch on every neurotic and annoying harpy in the universe: The Victim, The Perfectionist, The Evangelist, The Golddigger, etc. Needless to say they all meet a just and violent fate, bless their black little hearts. It's my duty as a man to write a masculine counterpart, I suppose, so I have my work cut out for me. But Highsmith is a genius, and I can't recommend this book enough. Great cover, too, by the way.
Patricia Highsmith is a master of the short short story, and her collections are wonderful. Little Tales of Misogyny is no exception. In this collection, Highsmith explores the many iconic roles women play out, and unsurprisingly mayhem and murder follow. There are no ideologies here. Women and men engage in brutal relations, with a cumulative effect of depicting a violence embedded in gender relations. Smart, sometimes funny, and thought-provoking.
Quite a mindfuck! I really enjoyed this little collection, although (or maybe also partly because) it's very confusing; who are these misogynists the title refers to? The men in these stories, or the women themselves, or all of them? Patricia Highsmith or everyone but Patricia Highsmith? I've only read two of P.H's books so far but I'm already more impressed and fascinated by the things she comes up with than by many (good) writers' entire oeuvre.
Here are 17 cheery little tales about lovely ladies, written with all the charm, grace, irony and evil that Patricia Highsmith so perfectly possessed. Well, forget the charm and grace part. I adore Highsmith's quirky works and I especially enjoyed these immorality tales. I can't think of a better way to spend a sunny summer afternoon that in the company of her heroines!
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Patricia Highsmith's Little Tales of Misogyny is a tiny, evil little gem. This tidy collection exposes the hilariously black cores of each of the lead characters, be they male or female, so I'm not sure that misogyny is an apt title. Still, who cares? It's brilliant and awful and perfect. A darkly funny classic.
Some of the short stories are OK and others are quite funny in a dark, bitter way. Was Highsmith venting about the bullshit behavior she sees in a lot of women? Was she irritated by the stereotypical behavior traps some women set for themselves? I don't know. But she does not treat her fellow females kindly here!
Stripped down, primal stories featuring a series of archetypes. These are almost little horror stories where the horror lies less in the text, but rather with the reader's recognition of how much pleasure they receive from the perfectly crafted fractured fairy tales.
Really creepy little stories that are the literary equivalent of Edward Gorey's drawings. Perfect for a coffee break and probably not the thing for people who like warm, fuzzy stories with happy endings.
Very interesting! Funny and misanthropic short stories. It took a while for her writing style to grow on me but the stories became more and more interesting as the book progressed.
Dark, humorous, and adeptly walks the tightrope between irony and misogyny. Favorites include "The Middle-class Housewife," "The Fully Licensed Whore, or, The Wife," "The Breeder," and "The Prude."
Praise words sound too dusted to reflect the delight of reading this book. Right on. Pieces of art and observation like this makes us savor life on a much deeper level. Cheers!
The title doesn't lie. These tales are undoubtedly misogynistic and as a result, are very funny in their absurdity. It's a good read if you're a fan of dark comedy.
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Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist who is known mainly for her psychological crime thrillers which have led to more than two dozen film adaptations over the years.
She lived with her grandmother, mother and later step-father (her mother divorced her natural father six months before 'Patsy' was born and married Stanley Highsmith) in Fort Worth before moving with her parents to New York in...more
More about Patricia Highsmith...
She lived with her grandmother, mother and later step-father (her mother divorced her natural father six months before 'Patsy' was born and married Stanley Highsmith) in Fort Worth before moving with her parents to New York in...more
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“La niñas nacen mujeres -dijo Margot, la madre de Thea-. Los niños no nacen hombres. Tienen que aprender a serlo. Pero las niñas ya tienen un carácter de mujer.”
—
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Aug 25, 2008 09:10pm