Wed 21 Dec 2011
Reviewed by Gloria Maxwell: PATRICIA HIGHSMITH – Little Tales of Misogyny.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[6] Comments
PATRICIA HIGHSMITH – Little Tales of Misogyny. Otto Penzler, hardcover, April 1986. Norton, softcover, August 2002. [See also Comment #4.]
As the title indicates, this book is a collection of sharp, biting indictments of women. The author’s theme is the destructive quality women have over men — innocently wrought, or with knowing spite. This destructiveness is sometimes personally fatal to the woman as well.
Some stories are macabre, such as “The Hand,” wherein the prospective groom actually receives the hand of the woman he loves — after asking for it in marriage. Others are tongue in cheek fun: “Oona, the Jolly Cave Woman”:
In some cases, the titles alone give an adequate preview for what is in store: “The Breeder,” “The Fully-Licensed Whore, or the Wife,” “The Prude,” “The Victim.” In all, seventeen tales of sparkling satire.
This book will not be for everyone, and readers who tend to be squeamish or easily shocked are hereby warned to beware. However, for those brave enough, or daring enough, to pick up this jewel, a definite reading treat is in store. Highsmith is truly a master of her storytelling craft and bold enough to tell it like it really is — in a unique, pulsating manner.
December 22nd, 2011 at 11:28 am
Patricia Highsmith, although an American, has throughout her life and career been more famous and influential in Europe, than in the States.
Especially her ‘Ripley’- books are still well known, I, for instance, have read them all years ago.
Why she never really caught on in her own land, I don’t know, maybe, because she lived most of her grown life as an expatriate in Europe, France and Switzerland, mostly.
Good to hear about her on a US website.
The Doc
December 22nd, 2011 at 11:54 am
Many of Highsmith’s books are still in print in the US, but how many people buy them, I don’t know. She might be on the reading lists for various college courses — Literature, Women’s Studies and so on — and maybe the subject of any number of doctoral dissertations. Her books and stories would be ready made for the latter, I should think.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:48 pm
Yeah, but they should be READ more !
The Doc
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:08 pm
It’s worth pointing out that LITTLE TALES OF MISOGYNY had been published in the UK in 1977 nine years before the American edition
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:19 pm
Indeed so, Jamie. Thanks! I missed that, and I’ll add a Footnote to the credits at the top of the review. So it took nine years for someone brave enough to publish this book in the US. Another feather in Otto Penzler’s hat.
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:51 pm
A German translation was published in Zurich in 1974 by Diogenes