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A review by shelfofunread
The Woman of the Wolf and Other Stories by Renée Vivien
3.0
Born Pauline Mary Tarn, Renée was a British poet who wrote in French and spent most of her life in Paris where her circle included the likes of Colette and Natalie Clifford Barney. This collection, written in 1904, has been newly reprinted by Gallic Books as part of their Revolutionary Women series and, for all that these stories were written over a hundred years ago, they feel as fresh and relevant today as they di when they were first published.
As Angela Carter does in The Bloody Chamber, Renée Vivien deftly re-works familiar materials to reflect her concerns and ideals. The collection contains stories based on biblical tales, adventure stories, classical myth, and the poems of Sappho – one of Renée’s favourite writers. In her tales, Renée Vivien recasts the roles of men and women and plays with expectations and familiar tropes.
As with all short story collections, I preferred some of the tales in this collection more than others. Renée writes a number of stories from the perspective of male narrators and, whilst these make for some of the most disturbing tales in the collection (Vivien’s men are invariably patronising and, often, murderous in their intentions towards women), they were also, for me, some of the most intricate and rewarding to read.
Fans of Angela Carter are sure to find similarities between her work and that of Renée Vivien and will enjoy to fantastical symbolism of these stories, whilst readers seeking to rediscover an important female voice will be richly rewarded with this collection.
NB: This review first appeared on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpress.com. My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
As Angela Carter does in The Bloody Chamber, Renée Vivien deftly re-works familiar materials to reflect her concerns and ideals. The collection contains stories based on biblical tales, adventure stories, classical myth, and the poems of Sappho – one of Renée’s favourite writers. In her tales, Renée Vivien recasts the roles of men and women and plays with expectations and familiar tropes.
As with all short story collections, I preferred some of the tales in this collection more than others. Renée writes a number of stories from the perspective of male narrators and, whilst these make for some of the most disturbing tales in the collection (Vivien’s men are invariably patronising and, often, murderous in their intentions towards women), they were also, for me, some of the most intricate and rewarding to read.
Fans of Angela Carter are sure to find similarities between her work and that of Renée Vivien and will enjoy to fantastical symbolism of these stories, whilst readers seeking to rediscover an important female voice will be richly rewarded with this collection.
NB: This review first appeared on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpress.com. My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.