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Tragic, Rebellious Eustacia

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Continuing with “Nasty Women Month”, I decided to choose a decidedly Romantic literary figure whom I greatly admired as a teenager … Thomas Hardy’s Eustacia Vye.

In case you’re unfamiliar with The Return of the Native, it is, in my opinion, Hardy’s most evocative book in terms of setting. Edgon Heath in his Wessex is described with the sensuality of a lover and depicted as a raging, passionate character itself … the epitome of nature, if you will.  The novel fits more squarely into the Romantic tradition than Hardy’s other masterpieces (I’ve read everything he’s written—he’s been my favorite writer for most of my life), and much of the tension and conflict stems from Eustacia’s struggle against what she feels is the “prison” of Egdon Heath.

Hardy also experiments with his “Destiny” themes in  The Return of the Native, as he does most profoundly in Jude the Obscure and most movingly in Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Eustacia  not only yearns to escape, but she yearns to be loved—and not only loved, but to be “loved to madness.”

As a young girl growing up in a remote, rural community—one in which physical hardship was part of survival—I resonated with Eustacia. She was urban and urbane and wild and passionate, and yearned to escape the confines of the admittedly beautiful, rugged and equally passionate environment in which she found herself trapped. She spoke to me. And what teenager doesn’t wish to be “loved to madness”?

Eustacia is also described—a theme in other Hardy works—as more quixotic deity than mortal female.  But for me, she’ll always be a top-notch literary “nasty woman” … one who could have benefited from a “creative resistance” in her own time and place.  And who better to play her than Catherine Zeta-Jones, as the actress did in 1994?

A Brilliance of Nasty Women

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So I’m a bit behind in our month-long celebration of Nasty Women Month. And it occurred to me that we need a collective noun on par with a “parliament” of ravens to describe a grouping of heroic female politicians.

How about a brilliance? 

And how about these seven brilliant political figures, all of whom have anchored and inspired me, some from a very early age. Both their legacies and ongoing work continue to do so.

  1. Shirley Chisolm: I was in awe of Shirley Chisolm when I was 7 years old and she ran for President. I am still in awe of her calm strength, dedication, perseverance, wisdom and leadership.
  2. Bella Abzug: “Battling Bella” was a personal hero in my ’70s childhood, even though I was across the country from New York. She told it like it was—and boy, could she rock a hat!
  3. Barbara Jordan: To think of Barbara Jordan is to think of dignity, eloquence, gravitas and justice personified. She was the Nemesis to Richard Nixon. How I miss her.
  4. Ann Richards: Witty, sparkling and with the sharpest mind and sharpest tongue in Texas, even in comparison to her friend Molly Ivins. A truly great Texan.
  5. Barbara Mikulski: When she retired at the age of 80 in 2017, she said: “Do I spend my time raising money? Or do I spend my time raising hell?” ‘Nuff said.
  6. Nancy Pelosi: I’ve had the honor of meeting Speaker Pelosi. I’ve voted for her in every election possible in every office for which she’s held. She is the Nemesis to Donald Trump.
  7. Barbara Boxer: Like Speaker Pelosi, I voted for Senator Boxer every time she ran for anything, and I saw them both climb the political ladder in the 1980s. Senator Boxer’s contribution to SHATTERING GLASS speaks volumes about her generosity, commitment and dedication to human and women’s rights. 

Don’t forget to request SHATTERING GLASS from your library! And if you’ve picked up a copy, please leave a review! 

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Nasty Women Month!

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To celebrate the release of SHATTERING GLASS, the first landmark anthology from Nasty Woman Press, July 2020 is officially “Nasty Women Month”!

Look for contributors and NWP members and readers and writers to share stories about some of the influential women—historical, fictional, contemporary—who have shaped and influenced them.

We’re going to try to maintain this throughout the month! If you’d like to join us, please use one or more of these hashtags: 

#NastyWomanPress
#ShatteringGlass
#NWP
#CreativeResistance

For July 1st, my choice is a woman whom I watched on television as a very young child and whom I’ve greatly admired (and practically worshiped) ever since: JANE GOODALL.

Jane is now 86,  a Dame of the British Empire, author of many, many books, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute which conducts supremely important conservation, preservation and research, and is truly a living legend—she’s considered the world’s foremost authority on chimpanzees. However, in 1960, as a 26 year old, when she set off for Gombe Stream National Park, she was a youthful English primatologist and anthropologist who had no idea she would upend conventional science’s approach to studying primates.  Her story is one of perseverance, trust in her own instincts and, yes, resistance—as a woman, she faced much criticism for supposedly injecting emotion (always a sexist trope) into scientific study.

She’s done more good for primates, primate recovery, and the environment and Earth in general than anyone else alive, and continues her work daily. 

As a five or six-year old, I remember watching her on television with my parents—noting her calmness, her ability to be centered and observant without having to control her immediate environment. She made a deep, deep impression on me and helped foster my life-long love of nature and wild things. I’ll always treasure meeting her briefly in the late 1980s at a lecture.

So there you have it. Who’s your favorite Nasty Woman for July 1st, 2020?