Imaginal Politics & Culture with Laurie Penny

A wonderful talk & Q&A session by Laurie Penny for re:publica 2016: “Laurie Penny: Change the Story, Change the World”:

 

Meanderings about Literature and Feminism

This blog and I are firm believers in feminism as a movement and way of thinking that helps serve as a corrective for normative, masculine perspectives and that help voice female perspectives. I feel the need to mention this stance because the limitations and constraints of my own background. The literature and scope of literature I’ve talked about here so far have been very male-centric and there hasn’t been much discussion on my part of female writers. I’ve been trained well enough to recognize how these choices on my part can shape an audience’s (your) perception of me as a writer and person.

Shakespeare and Authorship

What do I mean when I say Shakespeare the Author? We have a very particular idea of what it means to be an author. Indeed, we have a longstanding cult of the author. We look at Stephen King or George R. R. Martin, for example, as being creative visionaries and artists who, when it comes to the books they write and the works they create, are treated as absolute and final authorities on the worlds and stories and characters they’ve created. We also tend to speak of them as very singular figures: Stephen King, Martin, J. K. Rowling, and so forth.