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khetsia's review
3.0
3.5/5: Renée Vivien était membre du cercle Paris-Lesbos que fréquentai plusieurs femmes lesbiennes au début du 20ème siècle. On la notamment, on la surnomma « Sappho 1900 » puisque son œuvre était largement centrée sur la vie et les amours des femmes.
J’ai adoré lire ces 17 nouvelles juste après ma lecture de L’aimée. Mes préférés sont « Le prince charmant », « L’amitié féminine » et « Blanche comme l’écume ». Certaines ne m’ont pas vraiment touché, mais je garde de cette lecture une nouvelle passion pour les révisions féministes de écrits/savoir dits « classiques »…
J’ai maintenant envie de plonger dans l’œuvre de ses contemporaines saphiques (Natalie Barney, Lianne de Pougy, Colette, Violette Leduc, …)
J’ai adoré lire ces 17 nouvelles juste après ma lecture de L’aimée. Mes préférés sont « Le prince charmant », « L’amitié féminine » et « Blanche comme l’écume ». Certaines ne m’ont pas vraiment touché, mais je garde de cette lecture une nouvelle passion pour les révisions féministes de écrits/savoir dits « classiques »…
J’ai maintenant envie de plonger dans l’œuvre de ses contemporaines saphiques (Natalie Barney, Lianne de Pougy, Colette, Violette Leduc, …)
noniesrose's review
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
3.5
3.5/5
I would've rated this collection of short stories four stars if it wasn't for the few stories that were difficult for me to read due to the topics and the trauma.
I appreciated most of the stories though, especially the really good quality of the writing. Renée Vivien's native language was English, she learned French and Greek and as French is my native language, I was in admiration of her French!
What Renée Vivien and I have in common (just for fun): being sapphics, hating men, love for languages, finding out sapphic representation in poetry, loving women and literature.
I would've rated this collection of short stories four stars if it wasn't for the few stories that were difficult for me to read due to the topics and the trauma.
I appreciated most of the stories though, especially the really good quality of the writing. Renée Vivien's native language was English, she learned French and Greek and as French is my native language, I was in admiration of her French!
What Renée Vivien and I have in common (just for fun): being sapphics, hating men, love for languages, finding out sapphic representation in poetry, loving women and literature.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Rape
eavans's review against another edition
4.0
Woman of the Wolf and Other Stories is a collection of short stories with an obvious agenda: Men are the bane of women and life is way better off without them. I don't blame Vivien a bit--being a lesbian in the 1900s was probably rife with annoying men, be it from the terrible misogyny or inability to understand female sexuality. The stories are mostly in the vein of men pursuing women with no interest to them; it's (hilariously) written in their point of view of these men baffled and overreaching in their goal of basically obtaining these women, and Vivien's analysis is spot on. We never get the women's point of view, and it shows that her writing was for women who could relate to these persistent men.
Another story I loved was "Prince Charming", a story told in fairly tale style with a fabulous twist ending, and the story "The Jewel(?)" with the gorgeous Madame pulling a knife on a man forcing himself on her was BADASS. Vivien writes female characters not as complex as some feminist writers do, but in roles earlier denied them. The women in her stories are martyrs: they die for what they believe in, the are stronger than the men that balk to their roles, and they are otherworldly in power and beauty. They fight for their autonomy and won't shrink from their passion. It's crazy cool.
Anyways, it's gorgeous, but hell did Vivien hate men. I don't blame her living in the time that she did, but its virulence does make me laugh--her writing can be ridiculous. 4/5 stars because I thought too many of the stories were too similar and the female characters were not particularly "deep". There wasn't much character in them other than their goal of putting men in their place.
Another story I loved was "Prince Charming", a story told in fairly tale style with a fabulous twist ending, and the story "The Jewel(?)" with the gorgeous Madame pulling a knife on a man forcing himself on her was BADASS. Vivien writes female characters not as complex as some feminist writers do, but in roles earlier denied them. The women in her stories are martyrs: they die for what they believe in, the are stronger than the men that balk to their roles, and they are otherworldly in power and beauty. They fight for their autonomy and won't shrink from their passion. It's crazy cool.
Anyways, it's gorgeous, but hell did Vivien hate men. I don't blame her living in the time that she did, but its virulence does make me laugh--her writing can be ridiculous. 4/5 stars because I thought too many of the stories were too similar and the female characters were not particularly "deep". There wasn't much character in them other than their goal of putting men in their place.
melolauraa's review
5.0
It was one of my favorite books of Renée Vivien : I have some favorite texts like « Blanche comme l’Ecume » or « Bona Dea ». Renée Vivien spotlights lesbianism, women’s identity in the 19th century, feminism, and also femicides or horrible behaviours from men.
I highly recommend this book or other works by Renée Vuvien, by far one of the best romantic authors of the 19th century.
I highly recommend this book or other works by Renée Vuvien, by far one of the best romantic authors of the 19th century.
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