Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Woman of the Wolf and Other Stories

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The Woman of the Wolf and Other Stories by Karla Jay, Renée Vivien, Yvonne M. Klein

3 reviews

morebedsidebooks's review against another edition

2.5

Curious English speakers can access in translation several editions of the work of Renée Vivien a British-American writer, birth name Pauline Mary Tarn, who loved Paris and chose French to express herself at the beginning of the 20th century. Most recently the prose collection Woman of the Wolf, originally published in 1904 and first translated to English back in 1983, offers fabled short works in a new 2020 edition by indie UK publisher Editions Gallic as part of a ‘Revolutionary Women’ series.

I prefer Renée Vivien’s contributions as a poetess much more than her other examples of writing, however related each form may be.

See my blog for an in-depth review.

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actualspinster's review

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2.5

this was an interesting collection but i didnt really ~like it.... but as a sapphic paris enthusiast i did enjoy learning more about [and finally being able to read] renée vivien. i did think karla jay's intro to the collection was pretty trite especially in its attempts to mold viven into a feminist icon... like she's cool and all bc she's gay but like she's a complicated an sometimes gross figure & i dont want to look up to her, i dont need to look up to her to find her work + life interesting. and jay also calls the racism of vivien within these stories [reader, there is lots of racism (especially anti-native racism i would say?)!!!] "unwitting/unconcious" which is like laughable at best lol. i mean im pretty sure there is a lot of work around the connection between the way that those who identified w 'inversion'/sexological discourses of the time around queerness and deep anti-blackness & racism in how they even conceptualise & represent dissident sexuality.... and i think you can absolutely find the beginnings of that in vivien's work too..
most of the stories are rly short which is good or bad depending on the story! i think my faves were the friendship of women (<-- made me cry bc of naomi + ruth), prince charming & the sisters of silence (<-- silent queer nuns :))))

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thebookishmeg's review

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challenging dark inspiring medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Renée Vivien combines dark humour, frank observations and beautiful prose to create a short story collection that satirises and examines gender roles, retells myth and biblical tales, and provides a platform for strong women to flourish.

I enjoyed the entire collection, but several of the short stories really stood out for me. I loved Vivien’s satirical portrayal of men’s egotism in The Woman of the Wolf. Written from the perspective of the male narrator, this story describes his experience attempting to ‘court’ the woman of the wolf. Despite appearing unsuccessful, he continually believes her disinterest to be a sign of her love and a reason to persist. When she eventually condemns his behaviour, he is enraged, and yet still believes the woman is attempting to make him fall further in love with her. This misguided way of thinking – which is reminiscent of the way catcalling is often portrayed as a ‘compliment’ or a clear ‘no’ is taken as a sign of playing ‘hard to get’ – is cleverly explored by Renée Vivien and it was definitely one of my favourite stories. This theme is repeated in several of the stories, which unfortunate consequences for the women involved as Vivien portrays the brutality of ego-driven men.

Other favourites included Prince Charming – one of the shortest stories, and easily the cutest – The Veil of Vashti – drawn from the Bible story of Lilith and incredibly empowering – and The Splendid Prostitute – involving a badass woman refusing to be dictated to by men.

It is a text I would’ve enjoyed examining for A level English Literature; I think there is a lot to be explored, examined and unpacked. It does reflect the antisemitism and racism views of the period in which it was written (1904) and this could also be examined under the lens of intersectional feminism. The satirical writing style and frank observations reminded me of Carol Ann Duffy’s poetry, which I did study at A level, and I would definitely recommend it to fans of feminist literature.

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