/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.11832813]

Is it a common theme of feminist works to be about cheating (or wanting to cheat) on your boring but otherwise good husband? I'm in a Fiction course in undergrad and the only two feminist works we've read thus far (Chopin's The Storm and Steinbeck's Chrysanthemums) have followed the essentially the same narrative structure and themes. Is this as common amongst feminist writers as it seems or is my course just cherrypicking? I had a friend that asked me to read a bunch of feminist poetry and it seemed to play with similar themes.

I'm not very /lit/ at all (I usually prefer non-fiction over fiction when I do read) and not all that in the know but I thought you guys would be the best to ask

[Anonymous No.11832828]

>>11832813
this same type of situation happen's in chopin's the awakening. as i came to understand it, that book was sort of about diluting who you are to the most essential parts of yourself, while discarding cultural baggage. so for example in that book, the main character is married to a husband she doesn't really love. this marriage happened for cultural reasons, rather than romantic ones. however, as the protag learns to be herself she basically discards that culturally informed relationship for another one. the whole book has lots of great psychological implications and i would recommend it.

[Anonymous No.11832870]

>>11832828
These stories make me sad, though. They seem to represent the inherent selfishness and untrustworthiness of humans. They make me feel very doubtful of the value of human relationships. I don't think they promote goodness

[Anonymous No.11832906]

>>11832870
are you from outside of the united states? no judgement but i suspect you might be. if you are, what i would say i guess is that the reason these authors write about infidelity in marriage might be to reclaim the value of human relationships. for example, isn't a relationship where each partner loves each other better than one where they don't? i think these stories help to bring some light to the fact that a century ago, people didn't really marry for love as much as they do now. i'm interested in your perspective, though.
also you said you read more nonfiction than fiction, what kind of nonfiction do you read?

[Anonymous No.11832948]

>>11832906
I'm actually from the United States, my syntax is choppy (if that's what you're picking up on) because I've spent all day writing responses to films and short stories and I'm tired of attempting to write well.
>for example, isn't a relationship where each partner loves each other better than one where they don't?
Of course they are better, but I have lost faith. It seems to me that the women in these stories would fall out of love with any man they married; the reality is that they are chasing the exciting feeling of fresh "love", and are simply bored with the reality of marriage. But that is clearly not the authorial intent, and they are making the problem worse by promoting this destructive and irresponsible behavior. I think this is a problem that still exists today, and I don't think it was really caused by the different way courtships and marriages worked back then. Affairs look essentially the same now as they do in these stories
>also you said you read more nonfiction than fiction, what kind of nonfiction do you read?
I like history books. I like Eurasian history in particular; I've read some really enjoyable books on Russia, Iran, and Genghis Khan's Mongols. Also a more recent one about the 90s-00s in North Korea.

I like that Natu pic, back in the day my friends and I used all of the sunglasses pokemon in that shot as Steam profile pictures haha

[Anonymous No.11833076]

>>11832948
aha. no worries, your syntax was fine, it was the rhetoric that sounded more foreign to me.
i don't necessarily know that what you say about chasing "fresh love" applies to those stories specifically, although it is a good message. i really think you should read the awakening, because the end of that book sort of chastises the protag for her irresponsibility. so she basically divorces (i say basically because you couldn't divorce during that time period without social rejection) her husband for another lover. the problem is, at least how i saw it, is that she then began to see her relationship in purely sexual terms rather than as a romantic, or marriage-like, one. the book even ends with her drowning herself. you might be right as far as the storm is concerned, though. and you're right, the affairs did look the same, but i think back then they may have been more justifiable. i don't think there are the same excuses nowadays.
nice. political science and economics books are more my forte and i've been wanting to read a history one. what's the one about north korea called?

[Anonymous No.11833104]

>>11832948
>>11832948
So you remember the names of these books? The NK, Russian, and Iran stuff all would be interesting to read.

[Anonymous No.11833130]

>>11833076
Not that it's truly "fresh love", but more that they are conflating the thrill and excitement of an affair with the notion that they could find similar fulfillment in a "more whole" relationship. In my opinion, it is an incorrect premise.

I see, that is an interesting story. It surprises me, considering that The Storm seems to portray the affair as positive.

People use those same excuses anyway, though. Whether or not it is or was justified doesn't really play into things as far as I can see; affairs were just as destructive to lives then as they are today. In fact, affairs might be more destructive today since we are raised with the easily-shattered expectation that marriage is about true love, an idea that wasn't as prevalent in centuries past.

Oh man, I lent the book to my dad but I think it was called "Dear Leader". It was by a North Korean defector, though honestly it might just be a propaganda piece against the NoKos.

[Anonymous No.11833143]

>>11832813
weeb

[Anonymous No.11833158]

>>11833104
There are a lot of good books on Iran, considering that it has so much history. For the 21st century All the Shah's Men (Stephen Kinzer) and The Last Great Revolution (Robin Wright) are really insightful, and for a broader picture Empire of the Mind: A History of Iran (Michael Axworthy) is good. Also The Wine of Wisdom is a good book about Omar Khayyam.

I can't remember the name of the book I read on Ivan the Terrible, but there's also a pretty interesting (and pretty long/exhaustive) book on Russia's 1000 year history called Russia: A 1000 Year Chronicle of the Wild East by Martin Sixsmith.

Also Forgotten Ally is a pretty good book about the Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese Civil War and the Chinese involvement in WWII.

Most of these are pretty recent books so they may be infected with a bit too much sensationalist pop-history, but I enjoyed them nonetheless.

[Anonymous No.11833162]

>>11833158
>>11833104
>*20th century