Joanna Russ
Joanna Russ | |
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women's caucus of the MLA |
Joanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) was an American writer, academic and
Background
Joanna Russ was born in The Bronx, New York City,[1] to Evarett I. and Bertha (née Zinner) Russ, both teachers. Her family was Jewish.[2] She began creating works of fiction at a very early age. Over the following years she filled countless notebooks with stories, poems, comics and illustrations, often hand-binding the material with thread.[3]
As a senior at
Russ taught at Queensborough Community College from 1966 to 1967, at Cornell from 1967 to 1972, SUNY Binghamton, from 1972 to 1975, and at the University of Colorado, Boulder, from 1975 to 1977.[7] In 1977 she started teaching at the University of Washington.[8] She became a full professor in 1984 and retired in 1991.[9] Russ was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship in 1974-1975.[10]
Science fiction and other writing
Russ came to be noticed in the science fiction world in the late 1960s,
Along with her work as a writer of prose fiction, Russ was also a playwright, essayist, and author of nonfiction works, generally literary criticism and feminist theory, including the essay collection Magic Mommas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans & Perverts; How to Suppress Women's Writing; and the book-length study of modern feminism, What Are We Fighting For?. Her essays and articles have been published in Women's Studies Quarterly, Signs, Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Science Fiction Studies, and College English. Russ was a self-described socialist feminist, expressing particular admiration for the work and theories of Clara Fraser and her Freedom Socialist Party.[15] Both fiction and nonfiction, for Russ, were modes of engaging theory with the real world; in particular, The Female Man can be read as a theoretical or narrative text. The short story, "When It Changed", which became a part of the novel, explores the constraints of gender and asks if gender is necessary in a society.
Russ's writing is characterized by anger interspersed with humor and irony.
For nearly 15 years she was an influential (if intermittent) review columnist for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.[17] Though by then she was no longer an active member of science fiction fandom, she was interviewed by phone during Wiscon (the feminist science fiction convention in Madison, Wisconsin) in 2006 by her friend and member of the same cohort[vague], Samuel R. Delany.[18]
Her first SF story was "Nor Custom Stale" in F&SF (1959). Notable short works include Hugo winner and Nebula Award finalist "Souls" (1982), Nebula Award and Tiptree Award winner "When It Changed" (1972), Nebula Award finalists "The Second Inquisition" (1970), "Poor Man, Beggar Man" (1971), "The Extraordinary Voyages of Amélie Bertrand" (1979), and "The Mystery of the Young Gentlemen" (1982).[19] Her fiction has been nominated for nine Nebula and three Hugo Awards, and her genre-related scholarly work was recognized with a Pilgrim Award in 1988.[12] Her story "The Autobiography of My Mother" was one of the 1977 O. Henry Prize stories.[20]
She wrote several contributions to feminist thinking about
These essays include very detailed descriptions of her views on pornography and how influential it was to feminist thought in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Specifically, in "Being Against Pornography", she calls pornography a feminist issue. Her issues with pornography range from feminist issues, to women's sexuality in general and how porn prevents women from freely expressing their sexual selves, like men can.
Reputation and legacy
Her work is widely taught in courses on science fiction and feminism throughout the English speaking world. Russ is the subject of
Gwyneth Jones wrote a 2019 book about Joanna Russ that was part of the University of Illinois Press series called Modern Masters of Science Fiction.[26]
In a 2004 essay about the connections between Russ's work and D. W. Griffith's film Intolerance, Samuel R. Delany describes her as being "one of the finest - and most necessary - writers of American fiction" since she published her first professional short story in 1959.[27]
Her papers are part of the University of Oregon's Special Collections and University Archives.[28][29]
Critical writings
The late 1960s and 1970s marked the beginnings of feminist SF scholarship—a field of inquiry that was all but created single-handedly by Russ, who contributed many essays on feminism and science fiction that appeared in journals such as
Russ was acclaimed as one of science fiction's most revolutionary and accomplished writers.
However, Russ was well aware of the pressures of writing for a living since she was also an author herself. Russ also felt that science fiction gives something to its readers that cannot be easily acquired anywhere else. She maintained that science should be accurate, and seriousness is a virtue.[17] She insisted on the unique qualities of her chosen genre, maintaining that science fiction shared certain qualities with art and its flexibility compared to other forms writing. Russ was also interested in demonstrating the unique potentials of women science fiction writers.[30] As her career moved into its second decade in the 1980s, she started to worry about reviewing standards. She once said, "The reviewer's hardest task is to define standards."[17]
Russ's reviewing style was characterized by logic. She was attacked by readers because of her harsh reviews of Stephen R. Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane (1977) and Joy Chant's The Grey Mane of Morning (1977).[33] She organized attacks into these seven categories, taken directly from the cited article:[17]
- Don't shove your politics into your reviews. Just review the books. "I will," Russ said, "when authors keep politics out of their books."
- You don't prove what you say; you just assert it. "There is no way to 'prove' anything in aesthetic or moral matters."
- Then your opinion is purely subjective. "I might be subjective, but not arbitrary. It is based on a critic's whole education."
- Everyone's entitled to his [sic] own opinion. "Writing is a craft too, and it can be judged. And some opinions are worth a good deal more than others."
- I knew it. You're a snob. "Science fiction is a small world that often doesn't look outside of its own bounds."
- You're vitriolic too. "The only way to relieve oneself of the pain that has to be endured by reading every line is to express one's opinions vividly, precisely, and compactly."
- Never mind all that stuff. Just tell me what I'd enjoy reading. "Bless you, what makes you think I know?"
However, she felt guilty about dire and frank criticism. She apologized for her harsh words on
Personal life
Around the time of the publication of The Female Man in 1975,[34] Russ came out as a lesbian.[35] However, Russ remained protective of her personal life,[10] and as late as a December 1981 interview with Charles Platt, she was still evasive on the subject for the first third of the interview.[36]
Health
In her later life she published little, largely because of
On April 27, 2011, it was reported that Russ had been admitted to a hospice after suffering a series of strokes. Samuel R. Delany was quoted as saying that Russ was "slipping away" and had long had a "do not resuscitate" order on file.[38] She died early in the morning on April 29, 2011.[19][39]
Selected works
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Notes
- ^ Russ (1989), p. 236.
- ^ "UW professor Joanna Russ, with Ursula K. Le Guin and others, brought feminist bent to science fiction". The Seattle Times. October 18, 2019. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
- ^ "PCL MS-7: Joanna Russ Collection". Browne Popular Culture Library. Archived from the original on January 13, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
- ^ "Joanna Russ". NNDB. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
- ^ "Science Talent Search 1953". Society for Science & the Public. Archived from the original on June 24, 2019. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
- ^ Delany (2005), p. vi.
- ^ "Russ, Joanna, 1937-2011 - Social Networks and Archival Context". snaccooperative.org. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
- ^ a b "Guide to the Joanna Russ Papers, 1968–1989". Northwest Digital Archives. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
- ^ "In Memoriam - Joanna Russ: English Matters—Spring 2012". depts.washington.edu. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
- ^ a b "Joanna Russ obituary". the Guardian. May 12, 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
- ^ a b c Bacon-Smith (2000), p. 95
- ^ a b c
"Joanna Russ". Science Fiction Awards Database (sfadb.com). Mark R. Kelly and the Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
- ^ Francis, Conseula; Piepmeier, Alison (March 31, 2011). "Interview: Joanna Russ". Journal of Popular Romance Studies. 1 (2). Retrieved March 15, 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-19-502174-5.
- ^ "Revolution, She Wrote: Introduction" (PDF). Retrieved March 15, 2013.
- ^ Russ (1995), p. 175.
- ^ a b c d e f James, Edward. "Russ on Writing Science Fiction and Reviewing It". In Mendlesohn (2009), pp. 19–30.
- ^ "The Legendary Joanna Russ Interviewed by Samuel R. Delany". Broadsheet. Broaduniverse.org. February 2007. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
- ^ Locus Publications. April 29, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
- ^ Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. April 29, 2011.
- Fanlore. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
- ^ "Pornography and the doubleness of sex for women by Joanna Russ". www.ejumpcut.org. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
- ^ a b c Russ, Joanna (n.d.). "Being Against Pornography". University of Oregon Special Collections (Box 13, Folder 6).
- ^ "Archives West: Joanna Russ papers, 1968–1989". archiveswest.orbiscascade.org. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
- ^ "Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame: EMP welcomes five major players" Archived August 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. [June 2013].
"Joanna Russ: Prolific author and academic with an eye on female identity" Archived June 24, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. EMP Museum (empmuseum.org). Retrieved September 11, 2013. - ^ "Joanna Russ Was Sci-Fi's Most Outspoken Feminist". Wired - Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. February 29, 2020. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
- ^ Delany, Samuel R. "Joanna Russ and D. W. Griffith." Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 432, Gale, 2018, pp. 188-194. Gale Literature Criticism. Accessed 8 Dec. 2021. Originally published in PMLA, vol. 119, no. 3, May 2004, pp. 500-508. (subscription required)
- ^ "Celebrating CSWS 40th with the Le Guin Feminist Science Fiction Fellowship". University of Oregon. July 7, 2013.
- ^ "Archives West: Joanna Russ papers, 1907-2014". archiveswest.orbiscascade.org. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
- ^ a b Yaszek, Lisa. "A History of One's Own: Joanna Russ and the Creation of a Feminist SF Tradition". In Mendlesohn (2009), pp. 31–47.
- ISBN 978-0819563996.
- ^ Merrick, Helen. "The Female 'Atlas' of Science Fiction? Russ, Feminism and the SF Community". In Mendlesohn (2009), pp. 48–63.
- ^ The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, february 1979
- ^ "In Memoriam: Joanna Russ (1937-2011)". SFWA. April 29, 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
- ^ Griffin (2002), p. 172.
- ^ Platt (1983), p. 200.
- ^ "Reviews: Joanna Russ". Feminist Science Fiction, Fantasy & Utopia. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved September 25, 2006.
- ^ Silver, Steven H. (April 27, 2011). "Joanna Russ in Hospice" Archived April 30, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. SF Site.
- ^ Fox, Margalit (May 7, 2011). "Joanna Russ, Who Drew Women to Sci-Fi, Dies at 74". The New York Times. Retrieved May 23, 2011.
References
- Bacon-Smith, Camille (2000). Science Fiction Culture. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1530-3.
- Cortiel, Jeanne (2000). "Determinate politics of indeterminacy: Reading Joanna Russ's recent work in light of her early short fiction". In ISBN 0-8476-9126-8.
- Cortiel, Jeanne (1999). Demand My Writing: Joanna Russ/Feminism/Science Fiction. Science Fiction Texts and Studies. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0-85323-614-3.
- Cortiel, Jeanne (1999). "Joanna Russ". In Scanlon, Jennifer (ed.). Significant Contemporary Feminists: A Biocritical Sourcebook. New York, Westport, CT, and London: Greenwood. ISBN 0-313-30125-5.
- ISBN 978-0896721333.
- Delany, Samuel R. (2005). "Introduction". In Russ, Joanna (ed.). We Who Are About To... Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. pp. v–xv. ISBN 0-8195-6759-0.
- Griffin, Gabriele (2002). Who's Who in Lesbian and Gay Writing. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-15984-9.
- Hacker, Marilyn (1977). "Science fiction and feminism: The work of Joanna Russ". Chrysalis. 4: 67–79.
- Holt, Marilyn J. (1982). "Joanna Russ, 1937". In Bleiler, Everett Franklin (ed.). Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. New York: Scribner's. pp. 483–490. ISBN 9780684167404.
- OCLC 1117277461.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Law, Richard G. (1984). "Joanna Russ and the 'literature of exhaustion'". Extrapolation. 25 (2): 146–156. .
- Malmgren, Carl (2002). "Meta-SF: The examples of Dick, Le Guin, and Russ". Extrapolation: A Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy. 43 (1): 22–35. .
- ISBN 978-0-8195-6901-1.
- Russ, Joanna (1995). To Write Like a Woman: Essays in Feminism and Science Fiction. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-20983-2.
- Russ, Joanna (1989). "The dirty little girl". In Salmonson, Jessica Amanda (ed.). What Did Miss Darrington See?: An Anthology of Feminist Supernatural Fiction. Feminist Press. ISBN 1-55861-006-5.
- Platt, Charles (1983). Dream Makers volume II: The uncommon men & women who write science fiction. Berkley. ISBN 0-425-05880-8.
External links
- BBC Radio 4 Programme Cat Women of the Moon
- Guide to the Joanna Russ papers at the University of Oregon
- Joanna Russ obituary at NY Times
- Magic Mommas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans and Perverts: Feminist Essays, by Joanna Russ (1985)
- Databases
- Joanna Russ at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Joanna Russ, entry at The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
- NovelGuide.com Biography
- Joanna Russ at IMDb
- Joanna Russ at Library of Congress Authorities, with 23 catalog records