Comments on: Violence, rape, and class

By: hysperia

hysperia — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 06:01:21 +0000

Here’s a review piece written by Franzen in The New York Times. I heard some interesting echoes in the two pieces of writing:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/books/review/Franzen-t.html?pagewanted=1&ref=books

By: Anon

Anon — Mon, 31 May 2010 23:13:25 +0000

Wow. Thanks for sharing. It hit home to me, big time – my father gave me more or less the same advice about a much older man (who was a Lieutenant Commander when I was a Midshipman) repeatedly sexually harassing and assaulting me. Dad told me that if I took it to our superiors within the Navy, it would be his word against mine, and “the fact that you’re female would make you believed over him, but the fact that he outranks you will make him believed over you”. I know the second part of that to be true, so I heeded his advice – these days, I doubt the first part.

Dad told me that the best thing for me to do would be to avoid him. So I did. Which meant I didn’t go to meals for the rest of that year.

By: Gayle Force

Gayle Force — Mon, 31 May 2010 17:00:46 +0000

I just read the story, and was impressed, because, uh, I usually dislike Jonathan Franzen. But it was thoughtful, and nuanced, and the story never doubted the young woman, which I was afraid it would (Franzen likes to build up characters to then uncomfortably dissect and destroy them – I didn’t like The Corrections, clearly).

But it was obviously written by a dude. Because if it was set in the 1970′s, there had been no real consciousness-raising around rape. Not the way there has been now (I mean, acquaintance rape? Not usually discussed, then). It is pretty doubtful that the young woman would have immediately identified what happened to her as, “rape.” That word doesn’t spontaneously jump into anyone’s mouth – it’s a hard one to own, usually. Most young women, well, we don’t use the word rape at all after we are, let alone go around telling all the adults we don’t really trust about it.

I don’t know – that part just wrong kinda false for me. Especially after being raped twice – it just didn’t seem to be true to the character of a 17 year old girl in the ’70′s.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Mon, 31 May 2010 00:38:18 +0000

Hey, Mark Hudis–where were you this weekend?

Who told you about this blog?

By: Mark Hudis

Mark Hudis — Sun, 30 May 2010 23:23:17 +0000

While it’s true Patricia Marx writes about shopping, as she often does for The New Yorker, she also contributes some of its funniest Shouts & Murmurs pieces and is probably my second favorite female comedy writer, second only to you, Historiann.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Sun, 30 May 2010 20:10:08 +0000

You know, quixote, I had the same thought. It matters to them that it was written by a brand name like Franzen. Everyone else on the masthead for writing features this week is a man, except for Patricia Marx, who writes exclusively about *shopping*. Yes, you read that correctly: shopping.

By: quixote

quixote — Sat, 29 May 2010 01:58:18 +0000

I read the story, which is excellent. It’s heartening that a male writer has enough human feeling to understand the situation so well.

And yet…. Part of me is heartbroken and furious that the New Yorker couldn’t find it in them to tell a woman’s story in a woman’s voice.

By: I’ve Put This Off for Far Too Long « The Word according to an Acadict

I’ve Put This Off for Far Too Long « The Word according to an Acadict — Fri, 28 May 2010 02:01:39 +0000

[...] shall direct you particularly to this post by Historiann which features a piece of short fiction by Jonathan Franzen. Historiann says: In [...]

By: Historiann

Historiann — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:44:30 +0000

I’m sorry you have familiarity with the issues in Franzen’s story, truffula. I too thought it was well done, and what a surprise to find it in The New Yorker.

By: truffula

truffula — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:05:34 +0000

Thanks for the link, Historiann. It’s a remarkably sensitive portrayal of the additional traumas that can be heaped upon a rape survivor by everybody around her, even those who are well meaning, and of the internal conflict that comes from trying to understand “what to do about it.” I know first hand what that feels like and I appreciate that Franzen wove so many of those threads into the story.