{"id":97638,"date":"2016-06-09T16:19:08","date_gmt":"2016-06-09T16:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/06\/09\/let-me-tell-you-about-motherfuckin-19th-century\/"},"modified":"2016-06-09T16:19:08","modified_gmt":"2016-06-09T16:19:08","slug":"let-me-tell-you-about-motherfuckin-19th-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/06\/09\/let-me-tell-you-about-motherfuckin-19th-century\/","title":{"rendered":"LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MOTHERFUCKIN’ 19TH CENTURY LADY WRITERS"},"content":{"rendered":"

sixchord<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

The original badass mofo Jane Austen. \u00a0She has a bad rap because so many people blame her for giving us every rom-com plot ever. Yeah okay, sure. \u00a0You know what else she did? \u00a0Wrote about real women and men, in real life situations. \u00a0If you want to say that her heroines are too perfect, I say NAY. \u00a0That\u2019s the point of literally ALL her books\u2013the heroine has this flaw that would be tragic, except she LEARNS from it because she isn\u2019t FUCKIN HAMLET (I hate Hamlet) she\u2019s a real person who is capable of developing and changing and growing and can also be a total bitch (LOOKIN AT U EMMA) but can also end up being a good person because real people change. \u00a0Psychological realism in lady characters was practically not a thing until Jane Austen. \u00a0They were figures and plot devices and, like, allegories and shit. \u00a0A lot of scholars place Jane Austen on the same level as Shakespeare, because she revolutionized the modern novel\u2013the novel as we know it now didn\u2019t really exist until Jane Austen because HOLY PSYCHOLOGICAL REALISM AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, BATMAN. \u00a0Yeah. \u00a0You wanna read endless novels about flat, boring characters? \u00a0Didn\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

Then we have the Brontes, who were all fuckin badass and also like the most talented family ever jfc. \u00a0Because they couldn\u2019t get published because they were ladies, all three sisters decided, fuck it, let\u2019s publish under male pseudonyms. \u00a0(Full disclosure: have yet to read Anne, but am told she is actually the most badass) \u00a0Okay, Wuthering Heights is kind of weird. \u00a0Like, really weird. \u00a0But when you get into it and start ripping it apart you realize how amazing that shit is, like the entire novel? \u00a0The fuckin thing is a palindrome. \u00a0And don\u2019t even get me started on the brilliant narration oMG SO MANY LAYERS OF UNRELIABILITY. \u00a0Emily Bronte ilu. \u00a0<\/p>\n

and JANE EYRE OMG JANE EYRE. \u00a0Let\u2019s just give Charlotte a round of applause. \u00a0This novel legitimized first-person narration, specifically first-person female narration. \u00a0Most first-person stuff was epistolary and the ladies were all like \u201ctralala I bought a dress and flirted with a guy oh wow now we\u2019re engaged yadda yadda\u201d and Jane is complex and kind of broken and not romantic in the least. \u00a0Also she is a total badass. \u00a0She is a self-made woman, everything she has, she has because she literally built herself from the ground up. \u00a0And then there\u2019s this whole scene where Jane is like \u201cladies can do the same shit guys can do but nobody will let us which is stupid.\u201d \u00a0and, unlike any of the other ladies in governess plots, she actually ditched her super rich boyfriend because she respected herself too much to stay with him after shit got real. \u00a0And then she becomes super rich not because she marries him, but because, well, deus ex machina kind of, but still, it has nothing to do with Rochester! \u00a0Yay! \u00a0Also a really big deal\u2013Jane and Rochester are both super flawed but they love each other anyway and it doesn\u2019t end up being a tragedy because guess what, people can have flaws and not die horrible deaths. Also also\u2013neither of them is hot (this brings me joy).<\/p>\n

anD FUCKIN MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY. \u00a0(I cry every time someone leaves out her maiden name because google her mother holy shit, so badass) \u00a0She invented sci-fi. \u00a0nuff said.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Gaskell! \u00a0(She wrote North and South, the one with Richard Armitage?) \u00a0SO MUCH SOCIAL COMMENTARY OMG. \u00a0And Margaret will take no shit from nobody. \u00a0She basically runs the house when her parents are alive and then after they\u2019re gone she is still TOTALLY CAPABLE of taking care of herself because she\u2019s FUCKING AWESOME. \u00a0She faces down an angry mob, for fuck\u2019s sake! (Also, for the record, though I love the miniseries, book!John is even dreamier and less of an ass than series!John)<\/p>\n

Okay and Mary Elizabeth Braddon. \u00a0I had never heard of this badass lady but DAMN IS SHE COOL. \u00a0Everybody was like \u201cugh whatever she\u2019s a silly lady writer writing sensational lady stories ahahaha how dumb\u201d SHUT THE FUCK UP. \u00a0If you want to read a super badass 19th century murder mystery by an awesome lady, read Lady Audley\u2019s Secret. \u00a0The main character is a lawyer who is really smart but too lazy to actually lawyer so he just sits around and smokes all day and he kind of accidentally becomes a detective (like\u2026that\u2019s literally what happens\u2026)? \u00a0Also, spoiler alert, the villain of the story is a lady, which I am all in for. \u00a0Yeah. \u00a0And!!! The bumbling lawyer-man is a feminist! He has this huge inner monologue about how women are just as capable as men but they actually get shit done because they are awesome and motivated and, well, okay this is not always a good thing because hello lady villain, but still. [edit: alas, I spoke too soon, he is not a feminist. turns out he hates women. Robert Audley, we could have had it all, why\u2019d you have to go and fuck it up. \u00a0there are, however, many interesting and varied ladies in this book and it is also beautifully written Mary Elizabeth Braddon iluuuuu]\u00a0<\/strong>READ THIS BOOK I\u2019M CRYING RIGHT NOW<\/p>\n

Also cool things were happening with lady writers worldwide in the 19th century, but, uh, I specialize in Brit lit and I just tend to like it better so, sorry. \u00a0My bias is showing.<\/p>\n

But anyways, BADASS MOTHERFUCKIN 19TH CENTURY LADY WRITERS FOR THE WIN<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

sixchord: The original badass mofo Jane Austen. \u00a0She has a bad rap because so many people blame her for giving us every rom-com plot ever. Yeah okay, sure. \u00a0You know what else she did? \u00a0Wrote about real women and men, in real life situations. \u00a0If you want to say that her heroines are too perfect, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MOTHERFUCKIN’ 19TH CENTURY LADY WRITERS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[12249,12250,4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}