Literary Lesbians

Sam, Sonya, Lisa, Kat, Marg, Nicole, Ange and Bridget came along to this month’s reading group dinner.

The book was “The Danish Girl” by David Ebershoff.  The book is going to be made into a film next year and apparently Nicole Kidman will play Einar/Lili and Charleze Theron will play Greta.  (Kat pictured Greta more as Christina Ricci.)

Lisa and Marg hated the book.  The others liked it, particularly because it was a bit different from all the trashy lesbian romances that we read last year.

Marg had a problem with the book’s politics, particularly how it represented femaleness and femininity.  She thought that Einar’s transition from man to woman was not just a physical change – he was also lobotomised!  Marg described this as “no phallus, no brain” and noted that when Einar became Lili it was like he became retarded.  He gave up work and became completely dependent.  Nicole thought that he didn’t actually give up his creative work, but he transferred it from painting on canvas to creating Lili – the make up was his paint.

Marg was also disappointed with the book’s subtext about fertility being the pinnacle of femininity (represented by Lili’s fixation with being able to bear children).  Sonya noted that the title of the book was appropriate in that Einar never actually became a woman, he became a little girl.  Greta emphasizes this when she says “You’re a grown woman Lili”!

Marg also thought that that the characters were all ‘empty vessels’ and that it was difficult to connect with any of them as they had no internal life.  We agreed that this was a pity, as it would have been much more interesting if we had some insight into how Einar felt as a man, and how Lili felt in the process of becoming a woman.  For example, how did Einar feel when he was having sex with his wife after he had decided that he wanted to become a woman?  Nicole pointed out that it wouldn’t have mattered if Einar had been portrayed as an empty vessel if he had then developed an inner life upon becoming Lili.  Marg thought that all new writers’ first characters tend to be empty vessels. 

It would have been good to know more about Greta’s inner life as well, although Nicole points out that it was part of Greta’s personality not to be expressive.  She doesn’t overtly ask for help.  She writes to her brother ‘about’ Lili, but doesn’t actually engage with her feelings.  Sam was relieved when Greta finally stood up for herself and drew the line.  Marg agreed that Einar was completely self-centred and that Greta was a rescuer.  Greta was more like his parent than his wife.  Lisa thought it was convenient (Marg said unnecessary) that Teddy died.  Lisa thought that this was just to show the kind of man that Greta was interested in.  Ange thought that Greta killed off Einar for her own career.

We felt that the author was intellectually but not emotionally interested in the topics of marriage and transgender/intersexness.  Nicole was bored with all the description.  Kat thought that things were overdescribed and juxtaposed.  She kept wondering what different descriptions were supposed to be.

Lisa thought the book could have been so good, it was a great subject, but the author didn’t do it justice.  And, the font was too small!!!

Discussion then drifted off about better books:

• “The Price of Salt” (republished as “Carol”) by Patricia Highsmith
  
• “All that False Instruction” by Kerryn Higgs
  
• “Working Hot” by Mary Fallon
  
• “Pages for You” by Sylvia Brownrigg
  
• “The Hotel” by Elizabeth Bowen
  
• “Suck my Toes” by Fiona Mc Gregor (Kat asks whether this is the sequel to “Kiss my Butt”!)
  
• “Skin” by Kate Holden