Demand My Writing: Joanna Russ, Feminism, Science Fiction (Liverpool Science Fiction Texts and Studies, 18)

by Jeanne Cortiel

In this major study of the work of Joanna Russ, Jeanne Cortiel gives a clear introduction to the major feminist issues relevant to Russ's work and assesses its development. The book will be especially valuable for students of SF and feminist SF, especially in its concern with the function of woman-based intertextuality. Although Cortiel deals principally with Russ's novels, she also examines her short stories, and the focus on critically neglected texts is a particularly valuable feature of the study.

Genres: Science Fiction, Feminism

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Sarah Nolan]

Very expansive study of Russ’s work—maybe too expansive? No, it’s actually great but I do think the organization was a bit lacking; splitting the sections based on Kristeva’s interlocking paradigms in “Women’s Time” is interesting, but ends up making the chapters feel overly circuitous. This book gave me a ton of helpful material though.

[Lesley]

While I'm glad to see Joanna Russ getting serious critical attention, I did experience a certain dissonance between Russ's own critical style, which is engaging, witty, readable, and informed by, but not choked with, theory, and the style of this work about her. Felt that it could also have given a bit more attention to her own critical/theoretical works.