Outlander: Stories and Essays

by Jane Rule

These stories constitute together a powerful investigation into the many varieties of love between and among women. Jane Rule looks with a seasoned eye at the passions and peccadillos of lesbians, in twos, threes and more. The combinations shift like patterns in a kaleidoscope, enlarging and deepening our understanding of what is possible among women.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Lesbian, Queer, Essays, LGBT

207 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Jane Vance Rule was a Canadian writer of lesbian-themed novels and non-fiction. American by birth and Canadian by choice, Rule's pioneering work as a writer and activist reached across borders.

Rule was born on March 28, 1931, in Plainfield, New Jersey, and raised in the Midwest and California. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Mills College in 1952. In 1954 she joined the faculty of the Concord Academy, a private school in Massachusetts. There Rule met Helen Sonthoff, a fellow faculty member who became her life partner. They settled in Vancouver in 1956. Eventually they both held positions at the University of British Columbia until 1976 when they moved to Galiano Island. Sonthoff died in 2000, at 83. Rule died at the age of 76 on November 28, 2007 at her home on Galiano Island due to complications from liver cancer, refusing any treatment that would take her from the island.

A major literary figure in Canada, she wrote seven novels as well as short stories and nonfiction. But it was for Desert of the Heart that she remained best known. The novel published in 1964, is about a professor of English literature who meets and falls in love with a casino worker in Reno. It was made into a movie by Donna Deitch called Desert Hearts in 1985, which quickly became a lesbian classic.

Rule, who became a Canadian citizen in the 1960s, was awarded the Order of British Columbia in 1998 and the Order of Canada in 2007. In 1994, Rule was the subject of a Genie-awarding winning documentary, Fiction and Other Truths; a film about Jane Rule, directed by Lynne Fernie and Aerlyn Weissman, produced by Rina Fraticelli. She received the Canadian Authors Association best novel and best short story awards, the American Gay Academic Literature Award, the U.S. Fund for Human Dignity Award of Merit, the CNIB's Talking Book of the Year Award and an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of British Columbia. In January of 2007, Rule was awarded the Alice B. Toklas Medal “for her long and storied career as a lesbian novelist.”

Proud Life - Jane Rule: 1931 - 2007 by Marilyn Schuster
Jane Rule 1996 - George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award

Reviews

[Laksmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning beautiful, handpicked just for me I feel seen in a way I didn’t think I could be seen by a book.

A book of short stories about lesbian lives and then a series of essays on related topics but mostly hinging the writing world, literature, and lesbianism/ feminism.

Jane rule I love this, Jane rule I will live on Gabriola Island if it’s what you wish.

Anyone reading this please borrow my copy please read this pleaseeeeeeee……. Thank u

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

No, not the kilt clad time travelling romance. This one…I was thinking it would be more of a seminal lesbian work of its time. And actually in a way it was. By now this collection of short stories and essays is decades and decades out of date and as such it does reflect a zeitgeist of the era where same sex relationships were no longer criminalized mostly but still largely frowned upon and socially unaccepted. The book also featured some classically good as in very literary writing and so I’m actually not quite sure why it didn’t really work for me. I’ve tried analyzing personal thoughts on the matter, but honestly all I’ve come up with is that, while the quality was undeniably there, the entire thing just operated on a different frequency from mine. Which, I know, is insufficient, but how much self analysis can I really spend time on when there are books to be read. Like so many books of this nature (and also movies) the writing here is very serious, very sincere, very somber. Essentially, the exact sort of thing that gets lesbians accused of being humorless. The nonfictional writing, the essays which take up the last quarter of so of the book, are also very politicized, which probably worked more for its time, but now in light of all the MeToo and femlib business seem quite dated. Obviously such things should be judged according to the standard of their times and are in that way educational and edifying to a modern reader, but then again…nothing really revolutionary. Presumably in both fiction and nonfiction the goal was to present lesbianism as realistically as possible, which is to say no cheesiness of silly pocket paperbacks with fabulous covers and no sweeping historical dramatizations and no grand romances…but then again all of those listed are usually a lot more pleasure to read, so…let’s say to each their own and this one wasn’t quite for me. It read quickly and was too well done to dislike, but most of the appreciation was purely intellectual. On the emotional level it didn’t really engage. Then again intellectual appreciation is something in and of itself.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first story in this collection is so wonderful I had to stop and write a review. Amazing movement from someone who connected only with music until...
The relief of pure sweetness. I have the book if anyone wants to read it.
Name of the story is home movie

[Heidi Bakk-Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated, yes. The short fiction is interesting, but the essays at the end are only readable as historical insights, IMO. In particular, the essay on Teaching Sexuality will likely make lots of folks today shudder.

[Lindsay]

Using this as an entry for "In the Attic of the House" which I loved.

[ira · Rating 5 out of 5]

she is so brilliant at writing about aging .. grandmothers one of the most loving essays I have ever read

[Erika Nerdypants · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jane Rule is one of my favourite writers. She doesn't disappoint with this collection of short stories and essays. The stories are incredibly brave for the time, in fact they still are. They were written before the age of instant connection, before lesbians could find each other online. Being queer meant being isolated, and reading about Rule's characters was a lifeline for many women in the wasteland of otherness. Reading about Boston and beard marriages now seems like a long ago time, but really, it's only been a few decades. Rule turns convention on its head here. She challenges everything from gender stereotyping to the way we construct our relationships. The essays are at times shocking, and while I don't always agree with her, she makes an excellent point: if we do not allow dialogue about uncomfortable subjects, it does not mean the problem disappears, it only means that it exists in shame and secret. Genius.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never read anything by Jane Rule, but this was a good introduction. With about a dozen short stories and essays each, the collection offered a good overview of her writing and politics. I enjoyed all the stories, which all cented on women's lives and their relationships (platonic or romantic) to other women. The essays, ranging from personal stories to literary criticism and reflections on feminist politics, were a diverse, thought-provoking mix, although I wasn't too impressed by Rule's "not all men" defense, nor her position that sexual relationships between adults and teenagers could be healthy. I probably wouldn't read the book again, but for someone who generally can't get through literary anthologies, it offered a surprisingly enjoyable read.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this used for $3 and was surprised how much I liked it, or at least most of the stories. I loved the variety of relationships she portrays between women and their varied attitudes towards their own sexuality. I don't think the essays fit well at the end, they would've worked better if they directly commented on her stories.

[Marks House]

2 copies