The Madwoman's Underclothes: Essays and Occasional Writings - Softcover

Greer, Germaine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0871133083 ISBN 13: 9780871133083

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1994

Synopsis

Always strong and fearless, Germaine Greer strikes right at the heart of the matter be it John F. Kennedy and vaginal deodorants, rape and artificial insemination, cosmetic surgery, the death of Jimi Hendrix, or the famine in Ethiopia. This collection represents a mosaic of essays, long and short, some of which are appearing for the first time in print and all of which chafe the conventional and are bristling with argument.

From the youthful liveliness of her sixties pieces, which got up everybody’s nose,” to the depth and complexity of her later work, The Madwoman’s Underclothes is a reflection both of an era and of the changing ideas and styles of Germaine Greer: The essays on Brazil, Cuba, and Ethiopia represent my coming of age. Something like a coherent system of values is beginning to emerge after my years of wandering, although I have certainly not arrived at a set of articles of faith, and never will, I hope.”

Greer’s opinions on social, political, and sexual trends and mores are tendered in her unique fashion outspoken, with rapier wit and no tolerance for narrow-mindedness. But as explosive, angry, and often funny as these essays are, they also reveal tenderness and sadness and that emotion that underlies all of Greer’s work passionate commitment.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Greer finds it ironic that The Female Eunuch hoisted her reputation as an architect of the permissive society. In essays reprinted here from London's underground journal Oz and other magazines, she argues that the relaxation of sexual taboos was not even a reform, let alone a revolution, but a return to narcissism and overemphasis on self-gratification. She also knocks self-appointed feminists for mimicking male patterns of dominance. Greer's writings on legalizing pot, rock groupies, vaginal deodorant and premenstrual stress may have helped blaze a trail, but they now look dated. Her occasional pieces for the Sunday Times, Esquire, Spectator and other publications are still fresh, whether she is discussing care of the dying or men's belief that women desire rape. Most rewarding are her political essays on Ethiopia's famine, sexual politics in Castro's Cuba and the hopelessness of Brazil's explosive slums.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Greer is known for The Female Eunuch (1969), one of the germinal works of second-wave feminism, and The Obstacle Race (1979), a pioneering study of women artists. This collection of reviews, columns, and articles shows Greer's range and independent mind. She is acidly critical of all party lines, as she writes on topics from rock to Ethiopian resettlement and advertising to abortion. As the chronological arrangement reveals, 1968 already seems like ancient history. Although some of the pieces are narrowly specific to British counterculture and legal issues, the articles on Norman Mailer, the Playboy piece that defines seduction as "petty rape," and the recent articles on Cuba and Ethiopia are essential reading. Sally Mitchell, English Dept., Temple Univ., Philadelphia
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0871133083
• ISBN 13: 9780871133083
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336