It has been said that a male could not have written the poem,
now I'd mention here Anne Carson's 'Autobiography of Red', a sequence by a
woman which deals with male homo-erotic desire and does so to my mind with
considerable success. Likewise a male writer can speak in the female voice,
if the writer has the imaginative capacity.
_you_ said that Dave - I disagreed with you. And I think you have clarified
the elision here - being able to write in the voice of a man or a woman is
one thing. Of course it is possible, though there are dangers and pitfalls.
The most glaring being the easy assumption that the poet knows all about the
other and can write from their position without ever having to question
his/her own.
But the assertiont that the resulting text could have been written by a man
or a woman only makes sense if you completely erase gender from
consciousness. Even DB cant do that I think!
I have been following the discussions on gender through the whirlwind of
this first week back at work - like others I am very grateful to Alison,
Jill and Rebecca for articulating some thoughts that I am very much in
agreement with. I particularly liked your comments about sub/dom in the CAD
Jill!
Liz
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