Marilyn French, Who Wrote ‘The Women’s Room’, Dies
I remember reading The Women’s Room by Marilyn French in the late 1970s, in the midst of my burgeoning feminist days. Everyone I knew was reading it, and discussing it. In a word, The Women’s Room blew us away. I am not sure what it would be like to read it today — would it hold up after all these years? — but I know the impact French’s work had on me then. Not only the feminist content of her work, but the writing. I dreamed of having her writing talent. And I regarded her as a genius. Marilyn French died this past weekend at age 79. Here is an excerpt from the New York Times tribute:
Her first and best-known novel, “The Women’s Room,” released in 1977, traces a submissive housewife’s journey of self-discovery following her divorce in the 1950s, describing the lives of Mira Ward and her friends in graduate school at Harvard as they grow into independent women. The book was partly informed by her own experience of leaving an unhappy marriage and helping her daughter deal with the aftermath of being raped. Women all over the world seized on the book, which sold more than 20 million copies and was translated into 20 languages.
Gloria Steinem, a close friend, compared the impact of the book on the discussion surrounding women’s rights to the one that Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man” had had on racial equality 25 years earlier.
French also wrote Beyond Power: On Women, Men, and Morals (1985) The War Against Women (1992), and From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women (2002), among other titles. Did you read The Women’s Room?
May 4th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
I read the book when it came out and again a few years ago. It didn’t stand up on it’s own on the more recent read, or at least it didn’t seam that way to me, but it still is a firm part of who I am and why I think the way I do.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Ah! Too bad! I’ve never had a laugh such as when I read the rant on love (“Suddenly you realize he farts in bed”) and the splat rant, how we’ll splat blood on the steps of the library.
May 5th, 2009 at 8:08 am
I am very sad to hear that Marilyn French passed on. I read The Women’s Room two or three times. First reading was in the times it came out in paperback. Second reading was a re-read of that and then sometime in the 80’s I borrowed the book from the library. And it could be said to be one of the best classic examples of early feminist writing.
May 5th, 2009 at 11:25 am
There are only a few books that I remember flying around the office as EVERYONE, male or female, secretary or manager, had to read it. “The World According to Garp” was one. But “The Women’s Room” was another. I remember loving it, though right now, I couldn’t tell you about the plot.
May 5th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
I read that as part of a class assignment as a brand new freshman at college coming out of a restrictive private religious school. Blew me out of the water. But like Grace, I couldn’t tell you the plot if I had to. Of course, that was 1980.
May 5th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Wow, Janet, that must have been an amazing experience.
May 5th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
I read The Women’s Room too – will have to reread it. Sad that Marilyn French died – now that I’m 55 even 79 sounds too young.
May 10th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
[...] Have you ever spent the first week of a two-week holiday or vacation sleeping? Ann over at Contemporary Retirement takes a look at how a similar thing can happen to people on retirement.Many women remember reading a life-changing book called “The Women’s Room” by Marilyn French. Read more at The Boomer Chronicles. [...]