History, by and of women
This week I spent time in what I have come to think of as Anne de Courcy's expanded universe.
De Courcy, a British journalist and prolific author of popular history books, writes about the past through the stories of women of that time. Some of her books are biographies of famous figures, such as Diana Mosley And Coco Chanel. But she often uses groups of lesser-known (although usually still very wealthy) women to tell the story of certain periods or events.
“Debs at war” And “1939: The last season”, for example, describes the Second World War and the overthrow of the British class system by following the lives of London debutantes. “The fishing fleet' describes British colonialism through a group of women who were both privileged and oppressed. As young women, they faced a life of poverty and isolation if they failed to marry, and legal and social subjugation even if they did, thanks to the repressive patriarchal system of the time. But as upper- and middle-class white British citizens, they could also reap the financial and social benefits of Britain's harsh, extractive colonialism by marrying officials of the British Raj.
After reading a few of her books, I started noticing recurring characters, kind of like the superheroes from the second series that appear in several Marvel films. “The Viceroy's Daughters”, for example, is about Irene, Cynthia and Alexandra Curzon, whose father was Viceroy of India from 1898 to 1905. The Curzon sisters reappear in De Courcy's books about Mosley, who was the mistress and then second wife of Cynthia's husband Oswald. , and Chanel, whose social circle included Alexandra and her husband, the Duke of Windsor's best friend.
Her books are certainly not an egalitarian lens on history; many of her subjects were among the wealthiest women of their time. But especially because of the way they are connected, they highlight how women formed their own networks of influence and shaped the social and political systems of the time in ways often overlooked by other historians. This makes De Courcy's books a satisfying corrective to what I have come to regard as the “secretariat syndrome”: the habit of regarding men as the main characters of history, and of considering women only insofar as they are their secretaries, wives, daughters or were women. lovers.
Reader Comments: Books you recommend
Barbara McCarthy, a reader in Queens, NY, recommends: “The Buddha in the attic” by Julie Otsuka:
Julie Otsuka's 2011 novel is about Japanese photo brides who emigrated to America in the early 20th century. Although the work's point of view is the rarely used first person plural or collective voice, it delivers a collective blow to our conscience. This POV may disorient the reader at first because we are so used to a character's unique voice and the voice we hear in our heads as we read, but it doesn't take long for the reader to appreciate the power of “we” .
As you read Otsuka's novel you hear the voices of the nameless women and girls, and yes, some are just girls who arrive in the United States to marry men they have never met, you learn their fears, ambitions and eagerness when they reach their new home: America. As they begin their new lives, we discover their sadness, pain, both emotional and physical, moments of joy, acceptance and anger.
Collective voices demand to be heard, they cannot be silenced.
The wonder here is like all great books: when we finish and close the cover, the voices of her characters are forever etched in our brains and hearts. Bravo!
What are you reading?
I want to thank everyone who wrote to tell me what you're reading. Keep the entries coming!
I'd like to hear about the things you've read (or watched or listened to) that you recommend to the interpreting community.