To Write Like a Woman: Essays in Feminism and Science Fiction

Joanna Russ has written extensively - as novelist, short story writer, and critic - on feminism, science fiction, and fantasy. These essays, spanning almost twenty years of that career, range from Russ's consideration of the aesthetic of science fiction to a reading of Willa Cather's lesbian identity as it emerges in her writing. "To Write Like a Woman" includes essays on horror stories and the supernatural: feminist utopias; Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the 'mother' of science fiction; popular literature for women (the 'modern gothic'); what the fascination with 'technology' often hides in popular culture, especially in science fiction movies and "Star Trek"; and the feminist education of graduate students in English. As a writer, Russ also addresses theorists and critics of literature - as they address her own work and the work of other writers.