Women In Speculative Fiction
Women have always been represented among science fiction writers and fans. Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley has been called the first science fiction novel, although women wrote utopian novels even before that, with Margaret Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle, publishing the first, The Blazing World, in the 17th century. In fantasy, the rich heritage of myth, religion and folktales emerged from oral cultures transmitted by both men and women. Early published fantasy was written by and for both genders – for example gothic romances, ghost stories, and similar stories. Other examples of speculative fiction include utopias and surreal fiction, both of which, again, were written and enjoyed by women as well as men. However, genre science fiction in particular has traditionally been viewed as a genre orientated toward a male readership.
Read more about Women In Speculative Fiction: Writers and Professionals, Fans, Gender, Influence of Political Movements
Famous quotes containing the words women and/or fiction:
“Could it not be that just at the moment masculinity has brought us to the brink of nuclear destruction or ecological suicide, women are beginning to rise in response to the Mother’s call to save her planet and create instead the next stage of evolution? Can our revolution mean anything else than the reversion of social and economic control to Her representatives among Womankind, and the resumption of Her worship on the face of the Earth? Do we dare demand less?”
—Jane Alpert (b. 1947)
“To value the tradition of, and the discipline required for, the craft of fiction seems today pointless. The real Arcadia is a lonely, mountainous plateau, overbouldered and strewn with the skulls of sheep slain for vellum and old bitten pinions that tried to be quills. It’s forty rough miles by mule from Athens, a city where there’s a fair, a movie house, cotton candy.”
—Alexander Theroux (b. 1940)