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The first word in Western literature, according to the classicist Mary Beard, is “wrath,” which opens the “Iliad,” written in the eighth century B.C. “Wrath” might also be the first word of the literature of the past decade. Novels and plays throughout history have starred women who insist on doing it their way — savage, intemperate women, beautifully indifferent to opinion: Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hedda Gabler, Sula Peace. But never in such numbers as now, and never have they prompted such protracted conversation about what we expect from female characters, and why. These are the seething women of Elena Ferrante’s Naples; the heartbroken and enraged in books by Claire Messud and Han Kang; the charming, sinister heroines in the… Continue reading Giving voices to our ideas #25

The first word in Western literature, according to the classicist Mary Beard, is “wrath,” which opens the “Iliad,” written in the eighth century B.C. “Wrath” might also be the first word of the literature of the past decade. Novels and plays throughout history have starred women who insist on doing it their way — savage, intemperate women, beautifully indifferent to opinion: Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hedda Gabler, Sula Peace. But never in such numbers as now, and never have they prompted such protracted conversation about what we expect from female characters, and why. These are the seething women of Elena Ferrante’s Naples; the heartbroken and enraged in books by Claire Messud and Han Kang; the charming, sinister heroines in the… Continue reading Giving voices to our ideas #12

The first word in Western literature, according to the classicist Mary Beard, is “wrath,” which opens the “Iliad,” written in the eighth century B.C. “Wrath” might also be the first word of the literature of the past decade. Novels and plays throughout history have starred women who insist on doing it their way — savage, intemperate women, beautifully indifferent to opinion: Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hedda Gabler, Sula Peace. But never in such numbers as now, and never have they prompted such protracted conversation about what we expect from female characters, and why. These are the seething women of Elena Ferrante’s Naples; the heartbroken and enraged in books by Claire Messud and Han Kang; the charming, sinister heroines in the… Continue reading Giving voices to our ideas #13

The first word in Western literature, according to the classicist Mary Beard, is “wrath,” which opens the “Iliad,” written in the eighth century B.C. “Wrath” might also be the first word of the literature of the past decade. Novels and plays throughout history have starred women who insist on doing it their way — savage, intemperate women, beautifully indifferent to opinion: Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hedda Gabler, Sula Peace. But never in such numbers as now, and never have they prompted such protracted conversation about what we expect from female characters, and why. These are the seething women of Elena Ferrante’s Naples; the heartbroken and enraged in books by Claire Messud and Han Kang; the charming, sinister heroines in the… Continue reading Giving voices to our ideas #14

The first word in Western literature, according to the classicist Mary Beard, is “wrath,” which opens the “Iliad,” written in the eighth century B.C. “Wrath” might also be the first word of the literature of the past decade. Novels and plays throughout history have starred women who insist on doing it their way — savage, intemperate women, beautifully indifferent to opinion: Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hedda Gabler, Sula Peace. But never in such numbers as now, and never have they prompted such protracted conversation about what we expect from female characters, and why. These are the seething women of Elena Ferrante’s Naples; the heartbroken and enraged in books by Claire Messud and Han Kang; the charming, sinister heroines in the… Continue reading Giving voices to our ideas #15

The first word in Western literature, according to the classicist Mary Beard, is “wrath,” which opens the “Iliad,” written in the eighth century B.C. “Wrath” might also be the first word of the literature of the past decade. Novels and plays throughout history have starred women who insist on doing it their way — savage, intemperate women, beautifully indifferent to opinion: Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hedda Gabler, Sula Peace. But never in such numbers as now, and never have they prompted such protracted conversation about what we expect from female characters, and why. These are the seething women of Elena Ferrante’s Naples; the heartbroken and enraged in books by Claire Messud and Han Kang; the charming, sinister heroines in the… Continue reading Giving voices to our ideas #16

The first word in Western literature, according to the classicist Mary Beard, is “wrath,” which opens the “Iliad,” written in the eighth century B.C. “Wrath” might also be the first word of the literature of the past decade. Novels and plays throughout history have starred women who insist on doing it their way — savage, intemperate women, beautifully indifferent to opinion: Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hedda Gabler, Sula Peace. But never in such numbers as now, and never have they prompted such protracted conversation about what we expect from female characters, and why. These are the seething women of Elena Ferrante’s Naples; the heartbroken and enraged in books by Claire Messud and Han Kang; the charming, sinister heroines in the… Continue reading Giving voices to our ideas #17

The first word in Western literature, according to the classicist Mary Beard, is “wrath,” which opens the “Iliad,” written in the eighth century B.C. “Wrath” might also be the first word of the literature of the past decade. Novels and plays throughout history have starred women who insist on doing it their way — savage, intemperate women, beautifully indifferent to opinion: Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hedda Gabler, Sula Peace. But never in such numbers as now, and never have they prompted such protracted conversation about what we expect from female characters, and why. These are the seething women of Elena Ferrante’s Naples; the heartbroken and enraged in books by Claire Messud and Han Kang; the charming, sinister heroines in the… Continue reading Giving voices to our ideas #18

The first word in Western literature, according to the classicist Mary Beard, is “wrath,” which opens the “Iliad,” written in the eighth century B.C. “Wrath” might also be the first word of the literature of the past decade. Novels and plays throughout history have starred women who insist on doing it their way — savage, intemperate women, beautifully indifferent to opinion: Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hedda Gabler, Sula Peace. But never in such numbers as now, and never have they prompted such protracted conversation about what we expect from female characters, and why. These are the seething women of Elena Ferrante’s Naples; the heartbroken and enraged in books by Claire Messud and Han Kang; the charming, sinister heroines in the… Continue reading Giving voices to our ideas #19

The first word in Western literature, according to the classicist Mary Beard, is “wrath,” which opens the “Iliad,” written in the eighth century B.C. “Wrath” might also be the first word of the literature of the past decade. Novels and plays throughout history have starred women who insist on doing it their way — savage, intemperate women, beautifully indifferent to opinion: Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hedda Gabler, Sula Peace. But never in such numbers as now, and never have they prompted such protracted conversation about what we expect from female characters, and why. These are the seething women of Elena Ferrante’s Naples; the heartbroken and enraged in books by Claire Messud and Han Kang; the charming, sinister heroines in the… Continue reading Giving voices to our ideas #20