Dr. Elisa Sparks, in her entry on Woman on the Edge of Time for Masterplots in Women's Fiction, describes WET as combining
"a counter-cultural critique of authoritarian institutions with one of the first and most fully realized feminist utopias." According to Sparks, the protagonist's journeys into other worlds "map out humane alternatives to the abuses of power she suffers... These fall into three interrelated categories... 1) a Marxist/ anarchist critique of economically based power hierarchies; 2) a feminist critique of sex roles, gender inequities, and child-rearing practices; 3) a humanist critique of scientific ignorance of and technological disregard for the ecological unity of the human mind and the natural environment."Piercy's attempt at such a comprehensive treatment is an ambitious one, fraught with some notable difficulties. One example is the attempt to show as "illogical" the "logic" of the oppressive system that reduces and totalizes persons according to the systems own diagnosis of said persons.
M. Keith Booker, in "Woman on the Edge of a Genre: The Feminist Dystopias of Marge Piercy," highlights this particular difficulty:
"By attacking the mental health system through what appears to be a transparent, 'rational' narration of its treatment of Ramos, Piercy runs the risk of subtly reinforcing the ideology of rationalism that makes it possible safely to contain Ramos's potentially subversive energies simply by declaring her mad."Booker notes that Piercy overcomes this obstacle (and others) "by presenting explicit defamiliarizing alternatives." Booker here indicates the larger elements at work in Piercy's topias, but I would say that she also overcomes obstacles on a smaller scale by the "obtuse" language use of her characters. Per, fuse, grasp, worming, etc. are wonderful defamiliarizing elements, working on an aesthetic level, with socio-political overtones.
P.S. As an additional note, I appreciate Luciente's support of my in-class comments from last week. I voiced my discomfort with a system that has a "set canon" of books that are "good" - leaving the ex-cluded books, by their segregation from the list, to be declared "bad." I question whether such an "establishment" of such views by a Republic of Scholars is not a "closing" of learning, inasmuch as it declares some matters "settled." Luciente agrees as she explains to Connie: "The Powerful don't make revolutions."
3 comments:
A new comment, just wanted to see if it notifies Dr. Sparks...
I must say, I never thought I would see a serious literary criticism of sci-fi! Especially in the feminist theory camp. All those women wore skin tight outfits. I believe it was mandatory for the sci-fi genre.
It doesn't notify Dr. Sparks. I found this by accident. And why can't feminists wear skin-tight outfits if they want to? Which is the main point: getting to choose.
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