Let them speak!
They actually had something to say.
Naked Truth or Equality was the primer.
It became the realization that art was not the thing itself, indeed, it was the doing to make the thing which was the art. The art was in the doing. Whether it’s been effective or not remains to be seen. Sometimes I think that Naked Truth’s sneaky glimpse like quality into its subject may have missed the mark of the story I was attempting to tell. Yet that’s no longer important, because the book is done, it exists in the world, and now I’ve moved on to other things, such as my sophmore effort, A Well Dressed Lie.
A man in the business told me, “You are not the writer you were when you wrote your first book. You’re a different writer now.” Which may seem dazzlingly obvious, but it is so wise- because if the art is in the doing, which I truly believe it is- then what we produce can only evolve. That’s pretty exciting, I think.
Substack has been an unspeakable challenge, learning how to move from one page, and one list and the like. But I’m getting my sea legs now. I clicked on one woman’s site, called “Everything is Personal” and Laurie Stone’s writing is breathtaking. I thoroughly recommend!
As for angry dead women, well, my protagonists, Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin had a great deal to be angry about. So did most females living then. Pity’s the truth, that for most women, there’s still a lot to be angry about.
My own mother has been dead more than a decade, and jeez louise, she was really hopping mad (and I don’t mean just crazy). Her frustrations were usually concealed. Most people saw a lighthearted, pleasantly zany lady in pearls. In truth, she was caught in something she was unable to articulate but which she sensed was desperately unfair. I often think about that. More than I’d care to admit.
In the coming issues, I’ll be visiting some of the females who’ve caught my eye and attempt to give them the space they deserve. I also think it’s important that they be seen through an empathetic lens. Putting the shame and atrocities of civilization aside, many things considered normal then would be seen as monstrous today. Which then compels us to ask, were the tables, and they were looking at us from the past into the future, if the inverse wouldn’t be true as well?
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I was recently discussing that with a friend. How we have evolved and how what used to be appears scandalous today. And how our poor parents, who were trying their best, may seem like monsters to the naked eye,(or to the naked eye of our therapist). I applaud the empathy you apply.