Comments on: The Woman Who Did – Grant Allen (1895) http://blog.otherstories.co.uk/2009/06/the-woman-who-did-grant-allen-1895/ Books, Feminism, and Other Stories Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:20:05 +0100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Elizabeth McClung http://blog.otherstories.co.uk/2009/06/the-woman-who-did-grant-allen-1895/comment-page-1/#comment-404 Elizabeth McClung Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:55:23 +0000 http://blog.otherstories.co.uk/?p=503#comment-404 Ah yes, Allen Grant, well he is both very radical but also very set in his viewpoints. This was one of his best sellers but if you can get hold of the Decadent Literature Series made for university libraries there is a book there where an anthropologist comes from the future to view 'our' habits and and make pity and odd observations about them, which gets one to laughing so hard you almost drop the book in the bath (the best place to read Allen as HE is serious but that doesn't mean I have to be. I still remember the two characters, the time traveller and a married woman who have run off together to have sex in the grass and she says, "Oh no, I see my husband galloping towards us, we have been found!" To which the time traveller responds, "Surely not, he of ALL people would realize that we would want privacy at a time like this." Sorry, I just find the fact that Allen Grant can come up with these ideas SO ahead of his time and yet still be unable to escape the 'mother's duty' stereotype of thinking from the culture in which he lives and breathes. He certainly had strong views on feminism and tended to think that MEN, well education MEN, like for example.....HIM, should be the one and not WOMAN to determine the freedom and philosophy of the libitarian (sic) woman. So he really goes after certain female philosophers, and since most people were just getting to, "What? Women want to VOTE?" there really isn't anyone to oppose him. Shame. I do like how you show his latent 'rationalism' tied with eugenics, this 'science of procreation' which educated are required to aspire towards. Though he is an amusing writer and writes pulps and very good ghost stories and covers much of the same ground as the american, (arg, name gone now, starts with P I think, I had it a second ago - but every book they write, everyone dies and you feel like killing yourself - Grand avoids that, you just aren't too sure whether to chuck the book at the wall or not - I highly recommend She done in oxford edition with notes for a follow up to this view of the 'woman removed' unless you have already covered it?) Ah yes, Allen Grant, well he is both very radical but also very set in his viewpoints. This was one of his best sellers but if you can get hold of the Decadent Literature Series made for university libraries there is a book there where an anthropologist comes from the future to view ‘our’ habits and and make pity and odd observations about them, which gets one to laughing so hard you almost drop the book in the bath (the best place to read Allen as HE is serious but that doesn’t mean I have to be. I still remember the two characters, the time traveller and a married woman who have run off together to have sex in the grass and she says, “Oh no, I see my husband galloping towards us, we have been found!”

To which the time traveller responds, “Surely not, he of ALL people would realize that we would want privacy at a time like this.”

Sorry, I just find the fact that Allen Grant can come up with these ideas SO ahead of his time and yet still be unable to escape the ‘mother’s duty’ stereotype of thinking from the culture in which he lives and breathes. He certainly had strong views on feminism and tended to think that MEN, well education MEN, like for example…..HIM, should be the one and not WOMAN to determine the freedom and philosophy of the libitarian (sic) woman. So he really goes after certain female philosophers, and since most people were just getting to, “What? Women want to VOTE?” there really isn’t anyone to oppose him. Shame.

I do like how you show his latent ‘rationalism’ tied with eugenics, this ’science of procreation’ which educated are required to aspire towards. Though he is an amusing writer and writes pulps and very good ghost stories and covers much of the same ground as the american, (arg, name gone now, starts with P I think, I had it a second ago – but every book they write, everyone dies and you feel like killing yourself – Grand avoids that, you just aren’t too sure whether to chuck the book at the wall or not – I highly recommend She done in oxford edition with notes for a follow up to this view of the ‘woman removed’ unless you have already covered it?)

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