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Marilyn French

March 06, 2024

Marilyn French (née Edwards; November 21, 1929 – May 2, 2009) was an American radical feminist author, most widely known for her second book and first novel, the 1977 work The Women's Room.

Marilyn French
Born
Marilyn Edwards

(1929-11-21)November 21, 1929
New York City, U.S.
DiedMay 2, 2009(2009-05-02) (aged 79)
New York City, U.S.
Education
Occupations
  • Author
  • professor
  • lecturer
Spouse
Robert M. French Jr
​
​
(m. 1950; div. 1967)​
Children2

Life edit

French was born in Brooklyn to E. Charles Edwards, an engineer, and Isabel Hazz Edwards, a department store clerk. In her youth, she was a journalist, writing a neighborhood newsletter. She played the piano and dreamed of becoming a composer.[1] She received a bachelor's degree from Hofstra University (then Hofstra College) in 1951, in philosophy and English literature. Marilyn Edwards married Robert M. French Jr. in 1950 and supported him while he attended law school. The couple had two children.[1] French also received a master's degree in English from Hofstra, in 1964. She divorced Robert French in 1967 and then pursued a doctorate[1] at Harvard University, where she earned a PhD in 1972 on the thesis of The Book as World: James Joyce's Ulysses.[2]

French was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 1992. This experience was the basis for her book A Season in Hell: A Memoir (1998). She survived cancer and later died from heart failure at age 79, on May 2, 2009, in Manhattan.[3]

Career edit

Teaching edit

French was an English instructor at Hofstra, from 1964 to 1968, and was an assistant professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1972 to 1976.[3]

Political views and written works edit

In her works, French asserted that women's oppression is an intrinsic part of the male-dominated global culture. For instance, one of her first non-fiction works, Beyond Power: On Women, Men and Morals (1985), in which she traces and analyses the history of gender relations from early matrifocal societies to the lives of women and men "in the age of patriarchy".[4] French took issue with the expectations of married women in the post-World War II era and became a leading, if controversial, opinion maker on gender issues who decried the patriarchal society she saw around her. "My goal in life is to change the entire social and economic structure of Western civilization, to make it a feminist world," she once declared.[3]

French's first and best-known novel, The Women's Room (1977), follows the lives of Mira and her friends in 1950s and 1960s America, including Val, a militant radical feminist. The novel portrays the details of the lives of women at this time and the feminist movement of this era in the United States. At one point in the book the character Val declares in a moment of extreme anger, over her friend Mira's protests, that "all men are rapists, and that's all they are. They rape us with their eyes, their laws, and their codes."[2][5] French made it clear elsewhere that these were not her own beliefs, but critics of radical feminism have often attributed the view to French herself, without noting that the quote was drawn from one of many fictional characters in a novel.[6][7][8][9][10] The Women's Room sold more than 20 million copies and was translated into more than 20 languages.[11] Gloria Steinem, a close friend, compared the impact of the book on the discussion surrounding women's rights to the one that Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (1952) had had on racial equality 25 years earlier.[12]

Her most significant work in later life was From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women. It was published in a Dutch translation in 1995 (in one volume of 1312 pages),[13] but did not appear in English until 2002 and 2003 (published in three volumes by Mcarthur & Company), and then again in English in four volumes (published by The Feminist Press) in 2008. It is built around the premise that exclusion from the prevailing intellectual histories denied women their past, present and future. Despite carefully chronicling a long history of oppression, the last volume ends on an optimistic note, said Florence Howe, who recently retired as director of the publishing house. "For the first time women have history," she said of Ms. French's work. "The world changed and she helped change it."[3]

While French was pleased by significant gains made by women in the three decades since her landmark novel, The Women's Room, she was also just as quick to point out lingering deficiencies in gender equality.[3]

Selected works edit

  • The Book as World: James Joyce's Ulysses. Harvard University Press. May 1976. ISBN 978-0-674-07853-6.
  • The Women's Room. 1977. ISBN 0-345-35361-7.
  • The Bleeding Heart. Simon & Schuster. February 1980. ISBN 978-0-671-44784-7.
  • Shakespeare's Division of Experience. Simon & Schuster. March 1981. ISBN 978-0-671-44865-3.
  • Beyond Power: On Women, Men, and Morals. Olympic Marketing Corp. June 1985. ISBN 978-0-671-49959-4.
  • Her Mother's Daughter. Summit Books. October 1987. ISBN 978-0-671-63051-5.
  • The War Against Women. Summit Books. 1992. ASIN B001KL7D8A.
  • Our Father. Little Brown & Co (T). January 1994. ISBN 978-0-316-29390-7.
  • Een vrouwelijk geschiedenis van de wereld [Women's History of the World] (in Dutch). Translated by Viviane Franken. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff. 1995.
  • My Summer with George. Knopf. August 6, 1996. ISBN 978-0-679-44774-0.
  • A Season in Hell: A Memoir. Knopf. September 14, 1998. ISBN 978-0-679-45509-7.
  • Howe, Florence; Casella, Jean (May 1, 2000). Almost Touching the Skies: Women's Coming of Age Stories. Introduction by Marilyn French. The Feminist Press at CUNY. ISBN 978-1-55861-233-4.
  • From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in Three Volumes (2003), non-fiction:
    • From Eve to Dawn: Origins. Vol. 1. Mcarthur & Company. June 10, 2003. ISBN 978-1-55278-268-2.
    • From Eve to Dawn: The Masculine Mystique. Vol. 2. Mcarthur & Company. June 10, 2003. ISBN 978-1-55278-346-7.
    • From Eve to Dawn: Paradise and Infernoes. Vol. 3. Mcarthur & Company. June 10, 2003. ISBN 978-1-55278-323-8.
  • In the Name of Friendship. The Feminist Press at CUNY. May 1, 2006. ISBN 978-1-55861-521-2.
  • From Eve to Dawn, A History of Women in the World (2008) in four volumes:
    • From Eve to Dawn, A History of the Women in the World, Volume I: Origins: From Prehistory to the First Millennium. Foreword by Margaret Atwood. The Feminist Press at CUNY. April 1, 2008. ISBN 978-1-55861-565-6.
    • From Eve to Dawn, A History of Women in the World, Volume II: The Masculine Mystique: From Feudalism to the French Revolution. Foreword by Margaret Atwood. The Feminist Press at CUNY. April 1, 2008. ISBN 978-1-55861-567-0.
    • From Eve to Dawn, A History of Women in the World, Volume III: Infernos and Paradises, The Triumph of Capitalism in the 19th Century. Foreword by Margaret Atwood. April 1, 2008. ISBN 978-1-55861-583-0.
    • From Eve to Dawn, A History of Women in the World, Volume IV: Revolutions and Struggles for Justice in the 20th Century. Foreword by Margaret Atwood. The Feminist Press at CUNY. April 1, 2008. ISBN 978-1-55861-584-7.
  • The Love Children (Classic Feminist Writers). The Feminist Press at CUNY. September 1, 2009. ASIN B00305CYI8. (published posthumously)

In popular culture edit

  • Marilyn French is mentioned in ABBA's song "The Day Before You Came" (1982), in the lyric: "I must have read a while, the latest one by Marilyn French or something in that style".[14]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c French, Marilyn (2005). In the Name of Friendship. New York: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York. p. 383. ISBN 978-1-55861-520-5.
  2. ^ a b Liukkonen, Petri. . Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on March 27, 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e Sulzberger, A. G.; Mitgang, Herbert (May 3, 2009). "Marilyn French, Novelist and Champion of Feminism, Dies at 79". The New York Times.
  4. ^ Rolf Löchel, Frauen – noch immer jenseits der Macht. Marilyn French zum 75. Geburtstag
  5. ^ French, Marilyn (1977). The Women's Room. Book 5. Chapter 19. ISBN 0-345-35361-7. — […] Whatever they may be in public life, whatever their relations with men, in their relations with women, all men are rapists, and that's all they are. They rape us with their eyes, their laws, and their codes.
  6. ^ "Marilyn French," Obituary, in The Guardian, May 5, 2009
  7. ^ "All men are rapists," in Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable (2011).
  8. ^ Kate Rolnick, "Remembering Marilyn French", in Salon, May 6, 2009.
  9. ^ [Gail Jennes, "All Men Are Rapists,' Accuses Marilyn French, a Bitter Theme That Pervades Her Best-Selling Novel"], People Magazine, February 20, 1978
  10. ^ David Futrelle, , in We Hunted the Mammoth, February 15, 2011. Accessed April 6, 2022.
  11. ^ Rolf Löchel, Frauen – noch immer jenseits der Macht. Marilyn French zum 75. Geburtstag, [1]
  12. ^ Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, Herbert Mitgang, Marilyn French, Novelist and Champion of Feminism, Dies at 79", in The New York Times", May 3 2009
  13. ^ French, Marilyn (1995). Een vrouwelijk geschiedenis van de wereld (in Dutch). Translated by Franken, Viviane; et al. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff.
  14. ^ . MetroLyrics.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link), and the video clip for the song vaguely reflects the strangers-meeting-on-a-train plot of The Bleeding Heart

External links edit

  • Marilyn French – Daily Telegraph obituary
  • Obituary by the Associated Press on Legacy.com
  • Marilyn French at IMDb
  • Marilyn French papers at the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New York, NY
  • Appearances on C-SPAN

March 06, 2024
marilyn, french, this, article, lead, section, short, adequately, summarize, points, please, consider, expanding, lead, provide, accessible, overview, important, aspects, article, june, 2022, née, edwards, november, 1929, 2009, american, radical, feminist, aut. This article s lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article June 2022 Marilyn French nee Edwards November 21 1929 May 2 2009 was an American radical feminist author most widely known for her second book and first novel the 1977 work The Women s Room Marilyn FrenchBornMarilyn Edwards 1929 11 21 November 21 1929New York City U S DiedMay 2 2009 2009 05 02 aged 79 New York City U S EducationHofstra University BA MA Harvard University PhD OccupationsAuthorprofessorlecturerSpouseRobert M French Jr m 1950 div 1967 wbr Children2 Contents 1 Life 2 Career 2 1 Teaching 2 2 Political views and written works 3 Selected works 4 In popular culture 5 References 6 External linksLife editFrench was born in Brooklyn to E Charles Edwards an engineer and Isabel Hazz Edwards a department store clerk In her youth she was a journalist writing a neighborhood newsletter She played the piano and dreamed of becoming a composer 1 She received a bachelor s degree from Hofstra University then Hofstra College in 1951 in philosophy and English literature Marilyn Edwards married Robert M French Jr in 1950 and supported him while he attended law school The couple had two children 1 French also received a master s degree in English from Hofstra in 1964 She divorced Robert French in 1967 and then pursued a doctorate 1 at Harvard University where she earned a PhD in 1972 on the thesis of The Book as World James Joyce s Ulysses 2 French was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 1992 This experience was the basis for her book A Season in Hell A Memoir 1998 She survived cancer and later died from heart failure at age 79 on May 2 2009 in Manhattan 3 Career editTeaching edit French was an English instructor at Hofstra from 1964 to 1968 and was an assistant professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester Massachusetts from 1972 to 1976 3 Political views and written works edit In her works French asserted that women s oppression is an intrinsic part of the male dominated global culture For instance one of her first non fiction works Beyond Power On Women Men and Morals 1985 in which she traces and analyses the history of gender relations from early matrifocal societies to the lives of women and men in the age of patriarchy 4 French took issue with the expectations of married women in the post World War II era and became a leading if controversial opinion maker on gender issues who decried the patriarchal society she saw around her My goal in life is to change the entire social and economic structure of Western civilization to make it a feminist world she once declared 3 French s first and best known novel The Women s Room 1977 follows the lives of Mira and her friends in 1950s and 1960s America including Val a militant radical feminist The novel portrays the details of the lives of women at this time and the feminist movement of this era in the United States At one point in the book the character Val declares in a moment of extreme anger over her friend Mira s protests that all men are rapists and that s all they are They rape us with their eyes their laws and their codes 2 5 French made it clear elsewhere that these were not her own beliefs but critics of radical feminism have often attributed the view to French herself without noting that the quote was drawn from one of many fictional characters in a novel 6 7 8 9 10 The Women s Room sold more than 20 million copies and was translated into more than 20 languages 11 Gloria Steinem a close friend compared the impact of the book on the discussion surrounding women s rights to the one that Ralph Ellison s Invisible Man 1952 had had on racial equality 25 years earlier 12 Her most significant work in later life was From Eve to Dawn A History of Women It was published in a Dutch translation in 1995 in one volume of 1312 pages 13 but did not appear in English until 2002 and 2003 published in three volumes by Mcarthur amp Company and then again in English in four volumes published by The Feminist Press in 2008 It is built around the premise that exclusion from the prevailing intellectual histories denied women their past present and future Despite carefully chronicling a long history of oppression the last volume ends on an optimistic note said Florence Howe who recently retired as director of the publishing house For the first time women have history she said of Ms French s work The world changed and she helped change it 3 While French was pleased by significant gains made by women in the three decades since her landmark novel The Women s Room she was also just as quick to point out lingering deficiencies in gender equality 3 Selected works editThe Book as World James Joyce s Ulysses Harvard University Press May 1976 ISBN 978 0 674 07853 6 The Women s Room 1977 ISBN 0 345 35361 7 The Bleeding Heart Simon amp Schuster February 1980 ISBN 978 0 671 44784 7 Shakespeare s Division of Experience Simon amp Schuster March 1981 ISBN 978 0 671 44865 3 Beyond Power On Women Men and Morals Olympic Marketing Corp June 1985 ISBN 978 0 671 49959 4 Her Mother s Daughter Summit Books October 1987 ISBN 978 0 671 63051 5 The War Against Women Summit Books 1992 ASIN B001KL7D8A Our Father Little Brown amp Co T January 1994 ISBN 978 0 316 29390 7 Een vrouwelijk geschiedenis van de wereld Women s History of the World in Dutch Translated by Viviane Franken Amsterdam Meulenhoff 1995 My Summer with George Knopf August 6 1996 ISBN 978 0 679 44774 0 A Season in Hell A Memoir Knopf September 14 1998 ISBN 978 0 679 45509 7 Howe Florence Casella Jean May 1 2000 Almost Touching the Skies Women s Coming of Age Stories Introduction by Marilyn French The Feminist Press at CUNY ISBN 978 1 55861 233 4 From Eve to Dawn A History of Women in Three Volumes 2003 non fiction From Eve to Dawn Origins Vol 1 Mcarthur amp Company June 10 2003 ISBN 978 1 55278 268 2 From Eve to Dawn The Masculine Mystique Vol 2 Mcarthur amp Company June 10 2003 ISBN 978 1 55278 346 7 From Eve to Dawn Paradise and Infernoes Vol 3 Mcarthur amp Company June 10 2003 ISBN 978 1 55278 323 8 In the Name of Friendship The Feminist Press at CUNY May 1 2006 ISBN 978 1 55861 521 2 From Eve to Dawn A History of Women in the World 2008 in four volumes From Eve to Dawn A History of the Women in the World Volume I Origins From Prehistory to the First Millennium Foreword by Margaret Atwood The Feminist Press at CUNY April 1 2008 ISBN 978 1 55861 565 6 From Eve to Dawn A History of Women in the World Volume II The Masculine Mystique From Feudalism to the French Revolution Foreword by Margaret Atwood The Feminist Press at CUNY April 1 2008 ISBN 978 1 55861 567 0 From Eve to Dawn A History of Women in the World Volume III Infernos and Paradises The Triumph of Capitalism in the 19th Century Foreword by Margaret Atwood April 1 2008 ISBN 978 1 55861 583 0 From Eve to Dawn A History of Women in the World Volume IV Revolutions and Struggles for Justice in the 20th Century Foreword by Margaret Atwood The Feminist Press at CUNY April 1 2008 ISBN 978 1 55861 584 7 The Love Children Classic Feminist Writers The Feminist Press at CUNY September 1 2009 ASIN B00305CYI8 published posthumously In popular culture editMarilyn French is mentioned in ABBA s song The Day Before You Came 1982 in the lyric I must have read a while the latest one by Marilyn French or something in that style 14 References edit a b c French Marilyn 2005 In the Name of Friendship New York The Feminist Press at the City University of New York p 383 ISBN 978 1 55861 520 5 a b Liukkonen Petri Marilyn French Books and Writers kirjasto sci fi Finland Kuusankoski Public Library Archived from the original on March 27 2009 a b c d e Sulzberger A G Mitgang Herbert May 3 2009 Marilyn French Novelist and Champion of Feminism Dies at 79 The New York Times Rolf Lochel Frauen noch immer jenseits der Macht Marilyn French zum 75 Geburtstag French Marilyn 1977 The Women s Room Book 5 Chapter 19 ISBN 0 345 35361 7 Whatever they may be in public life whatever their relations with men in their relations with women all men are rapists and that s all they are They rape us with their eyes their laws and their codes Marilyn French Obituary in The Guardian May 5 2009 All men are rapists in Brewer s Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable 2011 Kate Rolnick Remembering Marilyn French in Salon May 6 2009 Gail Jennes All Men Are Rapists Accuses Marilyn French a Bitter Theme That Pervades Her Best Selling Novel People Magazine February 20 1978 David Futrelle Factchecking a list of Hateful Quotes From Feminists in We Hunted the Mammoth February 15 2011 Accessed April 6 2022 Rolf Lochel Frauen noch immer jenseits der Macht Marilyn French zum 75 Geburtstag 1 Arthur Gregg Sulzberger Herbert Mitgang Marilyn French Novelist and Champion of Feminism Dies at 79 inThe New York Times May 3 2009 French Marilyn 1995 Een vrouwelijk geschiedenis van de wereld in Dutch Translated by Franken Viviane et al Amsterdam Meulenhoff The Day Before You Came Lyrics from the Definitive Edition MetroLyrics com Archived from the original on February 24 2021 Retrieved May 4 2015 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link and the video clip for the song vaguely reflects the strangers meeting on a train plot of The Bleeding HeartExternal links editMarilyn French Daily Telegraph obituary Obituary by the Associated Press on Legacy com Marilyn French at IMDb Marilyn French papers at the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library New York NY Appearances on C SPAN Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Marilyn French amp oldid 1179076153, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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