The Penguin Book of Lesbian Short Stories, ed. Margaret Reynolds

[shewhostaples]

This is a 420 page doorstop of a book, containing just under a century's worth of prose. The first story is Sarah Orne Jewett's Martha's Lady (1897); the last, Jeanette Winterson's The Poetics of Sex (1993). Despite the title, not everything in here is a short story - there's an extract from Beebo Brinker, and part of a lecture by Virginia Woolf.

It sits very much at the literary end of things, often wandering off into the downright experimental, and I sometimes felt that it took itself a little too seriously. But it took its contents seriously, too, and it was pleasing to see facsimile reproductions of parts of The Ladies' Almanack (which I'm sure is hilarious if one knew any of the ladies) and a comic strip by Alison Bechdel. I'd be really interested to see what might be included in an updated edition.

Comments

[parcequelle]

Ooooh, that sounds fantastic, thanks for the rec!