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Title: Native Tongue (Native Tongue Book 1)
Author: Suzette Haden Elgin
Published: New York: Feminist Press, 2000 (1984)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 325
Total Page Count: 185,450
Text Number: 546
Read Because: interest in feminist SFF, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: In a future society where they've been entirely disenfranchised, linguist women construct a language of their own. The extremity of this sexist dystopia and Elgin's sarcastic, farcical tone is reminiscent of Sheri S. Tepper's feminist novels and distinctly offputting. But her themes and use of speculative fiction as a linguistic and feminist thought experiment are cogent, if flawed. As such, the afterward by Susan M. Squier and Julie Vedder in the Feminist Press edition is arguably more successful and certainly more pleasant to read, condensing the content, providing historical perspective, and discarding the tone entirely. I wouldn't recommend Native Tongue on its own merit, but I recognize it as an feminist artifact and sincerely enjoyed the afterward; I can't bring myself to read the sequels.
Author: Suzette Haden Elgin
Published: New York: Feminist Press, 2000 (1984)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 325
Total Page Count: 185,450
Text Number: 546
Read Because: interest in feminist SFF, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: In a future society where they've been entirely disenfranchised, linguist women construct a language of their own. The extremity of this sexist dystopia and Elgin's sarcastic, farcical tone is reminiscent of Sheri S. Tepper's feminist novels and distinctly offputting. But her themes and use of speculative fiction as a linguistic and feminist thought experiment are cogent, if flawed. As such, the afterward by Susan M. Squier and Julie Vedder in the Feminist Press edition is arguably more successful and certainly more pleasant to read, condensing the content, providing historical perspective, and discarding the tone entirely. I wouldn't recommend Native Tongue on its own merit, but I recognize it as an feminist artifact and sincerely enjoyed the afterward; I can't bring myself to read the sequels.
