Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2003 22:36:50 -0500 From: Chris Shaffer Subject: [*FSF-L*] BDG Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel To: FEMINISTSF-LIT@UIC.EDU It's time to start our discussion of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel by Gregory Maguire. I'll start off by saying I hadn't really intended to be a nominator with the responsibility for starting a discussion - I was actually replying to an earlier poster who was asking if anyone knew of any good revisionist fairy tales. At any rate, here we go. We last ran into Gregory Maguire in December 2000, when we discussed Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West ( http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Comet/1304/archives/bdg_wicked.txt ). Wicked was generally well received by the BDG. In my opinion, Confessions builds upon the strengths of Wicked and is a better book for it. Maguire examines charity, perceptions and depictions of beauty, self determination and more. I found a good review in January Magazine ( http://www.januarymagazine.com/SFF/stepsister.html ) and a somewhat disturbing discussion on bookblog ( http://www.bookblog.net/mt/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=211 ). Confessions was also produced as a made-for-television movie, which I have not seen ( http://us.imdb.com/Title?0267384 ). And finally, there's an interesting set of questions for readers at ReadingGroupGuides ( http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides3/confessions_of_an_ugly_stepsister1.asp ). So, to the heart of the matter. I think that Confessions is a feminist book. There are many different threads woven in the story, and they all support a vision of the world in which women are empowered. Iris, Ruth, Clara and Margarethe are well developed characters. I continue to be impressed by Maguire's ability to write believable depictions of women. The discussions of the role of beauty in society counterpoise very nicely with the three daughters' increasing realization that they can set their own courses in life. Even amid the harsh realities of life in 17th century Holland, Margarethe is capable of being a strong actor - admittedly, she doesn't make the best decisions, but she clearly has the power to make her own decisions. In the end, each of the women in the story is an actor, each plays a role colored by her own perceptions, each makes informed decisions that change her life. This, more than anything else, impressed upon me the revision that Maguire has made to the Cinderella story. There are no unwitting characters here, no players who are merely acted upon by others. Even though I knew the basic outline of the plot, and I knew that Clara was going to win the prince, the ending was still a surprise. It's hard to say it was pleasant, given the flow of the story, but I was delighted that it wasn't formulaic. I will admit that my second reading of the book was colored by my knowledge that Ruth is the narrator. On my first reading, thinking Iris was the narrator, I accepted the statements about her feelings and thoughts without question. I wasn't so trusting of the narrator the second time around, and I think this gave the book more depth. Ruth as idiot wasn't that interesting. Ruth as narrator is a fascinating character. So, what do you think? Do you agree or disagree that Confessions is a feminist book? What did you like about it, what did you dislike, and why? -- Chris cat-fsf@gesserit.net ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2003 22:53:17 -0400 From: Nancy Jane Moore Subject: Re: [*FSF-L*] BDG Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel To: FEMINISTSF-LIT@UIC.EDU     I'm new here, so I had planned to lurk awhile before posting. But I had some thoughts about Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.     My reading of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister was certainly colored by feminism. Maguire's revision of the fairy tale brings home the inherent unfairness of the society in which he sets the story. As Chris said, his version certainly gives us women as whole and complex human beings. (He does write women very well.) And anything that addresses female beauty and ugliness is easily read as feminist.     But I'm not sure his intent in writing the book was feminist. To me this book felt like someone telling us what really happened, in place of the "fairy tale." [Note: I'm using "fairy tale" with the idea of including its slang meaning of an inherently untrue story.] I'm sure he intended readers to look at the story differently; I'm just not as certain that a feminist reading was his main intent.     I suspect I pretty much identified with Iris while reading, because I found the ending hard. I wanted Iris to have a long and happy life as an artist; that's my version of happily ever after, and it's probably just as much romantic nonsense as any other version.     However, the description of how things worked out with Clara and the prince was a fine explanation of how such a marriage would actually have worked. I have only read the book once, so I don't know how I'd react knowing Ruth was narrating, but it would likely be an interesting perspective.     BTW, if people are interested in more revisionist fairy tales, there's a great book of poetry out: The Poets' Grimm: 20th Century Poems from Grimm Fairy Tales. It's edited by Jeanne Marie Beaumont & Claudia Carlson, and published by Story Line Press. You can find it in bookstores and online. Here's the editors' website: http://www.claudiagraphics.com/poetsgrimm.htm     At least 75 percent of the poets are women, and most of their poems are feminist. I would say that most of the poems by men are not feminist (though I wouldn't call them anti-feminist). It strikes me that most women (myself included) cannot look carefully at a fairy tale without having a feminist insight. Nancy * * * * * Nancy Jane Moore http://home.earthlink.net/~nancyjane Now in print: "Walking Contradiction" in Imaginings and "A Jealous God" in Mota 3: Courage ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 20:19:10 -0400 From: "Janice E. Dawley" Subject: Re: [*FSF-L*] BDG: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel To: FEMINISTSF-LIT@UIC.EDU At 10:36 PM 2003-08-03 -0500, Chris Shaffer wrote: >So, what do you think? Do you agree or disagree that Confessions is a >feminist book? What did you like about it, what did you dislike, and >why? The positive: *Confessions* didn't offend me with blasé allusions to the Holocaust as *Wicked* did. The author seemed more assured about what he was doing, and the characters were coherent and thoughtfully created. I particularly liked the way Margarethe's megalomania grew slowly out of her obviously desperate situation at the beginning of the book. At first she was grasping and bold because that was the only approach that would keep her and her daughters from starving -- or so it seemed. But as her situation improved her habits developed a more unhealthy focus. By the end, when we learned that she had poisoned Henrika, Margarethe was looking more and more like Lady Macbeth: in some ways quite evil, but in a complicated, interesting and, above all, *human* way. Clara, also, was an interesting study. When I read the bookblog discussion that Chris linked to, I was surprised to learn that so many people thought Clara was a bitch. I found her quite sympathetic, particularly after we learned that she had been abducted as a young child. But then, I read a lot of children's literature, in which obnoxious behavior is often portrayed as being rooted in fear, and the perpetrators of said behavior often grow and become better people by the end. Unrealistic? Maybe, but I think that was what Maguire was trying to show us. And Clara does come forward in the end to save her "ugly stepsisters". I think that's admirable. The negative: As with *Wicked*, the ending was incredibly frustrating! Important themes of the book (Iris's painting career and romance with Caspar, Schoonmaker's reputation and prospects, Clara's future with the prince) were tied up very unsatisfactorily in a paragraph or two, for no reason that I can think of apart from a) the author's or publisher's impatience or b) a limit on the page count. This ramshackle conclusion fatally marred the book. As for the "Ruth as narrator" framing device -- it felt like an afterthought. I'd like to know your thoughts, Chris, upon reading the book for a second time with this knowledge. Having read your kickoff message before even starting the book, I knew that this was supposed to be Ruth's POV, and was puzzled that quite a few events took place when Ruth was not there to observe them. If there was some point the author was trying to make with this, I have no idea what it was. It seems more likely that he grafted the framing device on after the bulk of the book was written and didn't bother to correct for the POV errors. But maybe I'm too cynical. Finally, why was this book written in the present tense? An annoying affectation. The in-between: I don't know if I would call the book feminist, exactly, but it was certainly woman-centered. The relations between the various females almost entirely determined the course of the story. All the men were, if not puppets, at least open to manipulation, except for van Stolk, the kidnapper and businessman. (The lack of follow-up on his story struck me as strange, given the prince's readiness to confront the van den Meers about the fire. Wouldn't he have investigated the possible abduction of his wife?) Even the prince was shown to have Marie de Medici as a sort of "minder". This certainly attests to women's power, but at the same time, I'm not sure if this is much different from the old misogynistic idea that the polluting influence of women is everywhere, just everywhere! And something has to be done about it! In other words, I thought the power of men in society (particularly 17th century Netherlands) was unrealistically downplayed. As far as I know (which may not be far, given that my knowledge comes from the novels of Dorothy Dunnett), Margarethe MAY have had a chance to marry Schoonmaker, but I just can't believe that van den Meer could be manipulated into tying the knot with his housekeeper, least of all so soon after his wife's death. Class boundaries were a lot more rigid than that. That plot development was convenient, but IMO damaging to credibility AND the feminist themes. I think this will be the last book by Maguire I read. Given my feelings about *Wicked*, I'm a little surprised that I even picked this one up, but I did, and I plowed through it, and now I am done. So much for my $.02. ----- Janice E. Dawley.....Burlington, VT http://therem.net/ Listening to: Radiohead -- Hail to the Thief "I've built my white picket fence around the Now, with a commanding view of the Soon-to-Be." -- The Tick