What Did Miss Darrington See?: An Anthology of Feminist Supernatural Fiction

By Jessica Amanda Salmonson

Book Overview

Winner of a 1989 Lambda Literary Award, this collection of twenty-four entertaining and haunting 19th-and 20th-century tales from the US, Britain, and Latin America reclaims a literary tradition that has long been overlooked. Using such techniques as magic realism, allegory, and surrealism, the authors re-imagine the cliches of supernatural fiction, focusing on female characters and treating traditional themes in inventive and provocative ways. Among the authors included are Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Luisa Valenzuela, Leonora Carrington, Barbara Burford, and Joanna Russ.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1558610065
• ISBN13: 9781558610064
• Release Date: August 1970
• Publisher: Feminist Press at The City University of New York
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Beautiful stories of real women

Firstly, I can not say enough about how good this book was.If you are a woman or even know a woman and are interested to know what her experiences are like to be a woman you can't go wrong with this book. The stories were scary-some of them-but more important they really portrayed what it was like to be a woman 100 years ago to the present day. This book reminded me of the experience of sitting down with your best female friend and sharing wine with her and talking through the night about what your life has been like since you two parted. If you have ever sat down with a woman and had a long and very deep conversation with her them this is what the book will remind you of. I loved this book and think it's one of the best collections of stories out there for woman or men who are sympathetic towards women and their issues. One thing is not to read the whole introduction before you read the stories.I would not do this because it gives some of the specialness away.Read it after the stories. Also, read them in order.There is a certain beauty in the way they are told in order. I won't go into all the individual stories because I want them to be a surprise for you but some points to make a on the following:The title work is wonderful.Talk about a strong successful woman.She was someone who was NOT a victim spinsterhood.She chose her independence over love and marriage.Talk about a woman who created her own destiny that was not dependent on any man like so many woman were at the time.I fell in love with her.I am also sure that there were quite a few woman in 1870 who were like her but we don't hear about them.We hear about the 'uselessness' of a woman if she was not a wife and mother.That is something that I have seen over and over again in the male as well as the female writers of the period.A woman at the time only had worth if she was beautiful.She was an ornament to a man and that's all. A Friend in Need is a story about a woman meeting her childhood invisible friend at the airport.Or is she? Attachment was a terrifying story of the attachment between two women in different parts of the world and what happens when one is sick. The Sixth Canvessar I found chilling.I still have a great fear of death and dying so watching this woman go through the horror of life right before death I found almost unreadable. Tamar was wonderful.If you have ever rooted for the bag guy/gal then this is a story that you will love.I found my self rooting her on into the most vile things.But I could also see her as a victim of her times and station so I had great sympathy for her. The Teacher is a horrifying tale built on the male view of woman as virtue and what happens when she is a normal,flesh woman and not this ideal that this poor, stupid man thought. Three Dreams in the Desert just has to be read to be appreciated. The Fall is a welcome sacrilegious story of the Virgin Mary and her escape of her role.I loved it even though it turned my stomach a little and I am not Ch