Monster, She Wrote

"Why are women great at writing horror fiction? Maybe because horror is a transgressive genre. It pushes readers to uncomfortable places, where we aren’t used to treading, and it forces us to confront what we naturally want to avoid." So write Lisa Kroger and Melanie R. Anderson in their book, Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction. And, indeed, they cite dozens of examples of women who have written in the very large genre they include, from Mary Shelley to Toni Morrison to Anne Rice to Shirley Jackson, plus many more writers who are not as famous.

The book is laid out as a series of short biographies of women writers in various genres, from the Gothic novel to ghost stories to vampire books. The most interesting chapters are the earliest, about women who were writing when it wasn't really socially acceptable. We hear about Ann Radcliffe, who wrote one of the first Gothic novels, The Mysteries of Udolpho, and Margaret Cavendish, who was called "Mad Madge," "On one occasion, she showed up to a theater event wearing a dress that exposed her breasts, including her nipples, which she had thoughtfully painted red."

By the time of the 19th century, the authors list many writers you may not have heard of. Ghost stories and other spooky tales were very popular: "Twenty-first-century filmmakers often portray nineteenth-century British life as a Jane Austen novel, prim and proper etiquette with lace and tea everywhere. But the fiction of the time, especially popular novels, paints a starkly different picture. Readers of the day had a healthy appetite for violence and gore." In fact, Jane Austen wrote a spoof of the Gothic novel, Northanger Abbey.

And how do the authors define Gothic literature? "Gothic fiction has both a strong literary tradition and a set of core characteristics that extends beyond moping around a dark, crumbling castle. Fiction that deals with themes of isolation, vulnerability, family strife, and the bubbling up of hidden secrets is undoubtedly Gothic, whether the story takes place on the moors, or in a country farmhouse, or in a city." Some more modern examples of this are V.C. Andrews, who wrote wildly popular novels about children locked in an attic, committing incest.

At times the book appears like a laundry list, just naming writers, especially in the last section, which talks about the new writers. There are so many names here it's a blur. There isn't much critical analysis: they mention Stephenie Meyer, of Twilight fame, but don't offer anything on whether they think she's any good (maybe they're just being kind), and though "speculative fiction" is in the title, they don't mention much modern science fiction--Octavia Butler, for example, is mentioned only in passing, and there's no mention of Ursula K. LeGuin or N.K. Jemision. And while perhaps she doesn't fit their categories, J.K. Rowling is not mentioned at all.

Each chapter is followed by a reading list, which is either extremely helpful or maddening, because you will want to read all of those books and who has the time? I'm certainly going to sample a few of them, because I'm always on the lookout for new books to read in these genres. If anything, Monster, She Wrote is a great guide for future reading.