Frankenstein's Daughters: Women Writing Science Fiction

by Jane Donawerth

Women Science fiction authors - past and present - are united by the problems they face in attempting to write in this genre, an overwhelmingly male-dominated field. Science fiction has been defined by male-centered, scientific discourse that describes women as alien "others" rather than rational beings. This perspective has defined the boundaries of science fiction, resulting in women writers being excluded as equal participants in the genre. Frankenstein's Daughters explores the different strategies women have used to negotiate the minefields of their chosen they have created a unique utopian science formulated by and for women, with women characters taking center stage and actively confronting oppressors. This type of depiction is a radical departure from the condition where women are relegated to marginal roles within the narratives. Donawerth takes a comprehensive look at the field and explores the works of authors such as Mary Shelley, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Anne McCaffrey.

Genres: Science Fiction, Victor Frankenstein

240 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1996

Reviews

[Alison Sinclair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Subtitled Women Writing Science Fiction, this is a critical survey of three themes in works of SF written by women: 1. ���Utopian science in science fiction by women���, on how works of SF by women have broadened, subverted and reinterpreted the practice and narrative of science. 2. ���Beautiful alien monster women���, on women as aliens, animals, other. 3. ���Cross-dressing as a male narrator���, on how women authors have played with the traditional default-to-male view in science fiction. While I���ve seen the second in critical writing about women���s approaches to science fiction, I haven���t seen the first at all, and the third rarely. I appreciate how Donawerth foregrounds the possibilities for advancing and extending science, and how the works explore the possibility of a feminist and utopian science. Feminist criticism has generally foregrounded the critique of science implicit���and frequently explicit���in feminist and feminist-influenced SF (such that there are times I get the feeling critics would be quite happy if the science and all its problems just went away). My���detailed���notes (including works mentioned) from the section on "Utopian Science" are over on my blog. http://www.alisonsinclair.ca/2012/04/...

I also appreciate that it is written for the general reader, who is not versed in the terminology of literary theory and sociology, and broadly eclectic in its choice of works. Donawerth mentions numerous novels (primarily novels) while selecting several to discuss in detail, and those in turn are not the usual canonical works of canonical writers who form the mainstay of criticism of SF written by women. As someone who reads criticism in part to add to my stack of books���not to mention a writer living in the long tail���this is my kind of approach. There���s a generous bibliography at the back.

[Angela Bernardoni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saggio pubblicato nel 1996, si vede che manca tutta una nuova wave di fantascienza scritta da donne, ma le riflessioni che fa sono interessanti.

[Barbara]

I had the great opportunity of reading this book while taking a class on women science fiction writers from the author, Jane Donawerth, when I was attending the University of Maryland.