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BITCH

Women of Wurtzel's Bitch

When does a reputation for difficult behavior result in a label of "bitch"? Simply enough, when one is a woman. After all, most of us know more than a few difficult people, but men, somehow, never have the added insult of a playground profanity attached to their names. But, while bitch, as a pejorative, is a word many refuse to use, Elizabeth Wurtzel spends 414 pages in her latest (aptly titled) book Bitch, making the word seem, if not respectable, at least a compliment...of sorts. "Women, you see, only become interesting if they give you the feeling that something is not quite right," says Wurtzel, "In fact, it is altogether better if it's clear that things are very, very wrong." Now you may or may not agree, but Bitch, as a virtual encyclopedia of female transgressors, proves at the least the power that so called bad girls hold in the public imagination.

We at the Book Café thought it might be interesting to mention some of the more literary types - this being a bookstore and all - culled from Wurtzell's legion of bitches. So, the following are some books to read or perhaps reread:

Andrea Dworkin

 One look at these titles is sufficient to scare away a large percentage of the reading public, but Dworkin continues to find her audience - it isn't, to state the obvious, generally men. The key works in her titles (women, war, unapologetic) make the point clear. Here is a woman who is very angry and who never, never backs down. Although many weigh in on the other side of Dworkin's politics, we need writers like her. They keep everyone else honest... For a barn-burner of an ideological feud see the John Irving / Dworkin letter debate that appeared in The New York Times Book Review

Anne Sexton

 Wurtzel suggests (and she is right, to a point) that women like Sexton and Plath owe their allure to their scandalous lives and, more importantly, dramatic deaths. I would add only that both were tremendous poets, confessional or otherwise, and the art transcends the lives. Read a poem like Sexton's "Just Once" and it is clear that her insight into human nature and the small epiphanies that are sometimes our only solace, extends far beyond her personal concerns.

Zelda Fitzgerald

 Zelda was perhaps not the most stable, well adjusted individual... and then she married Scott. Taking dysfunction to previously unknown heights, the two blazed a brief lunatic trail and then were gone. While Zelda didn't have a "Gatsby" in her (Scott, to his chagrin, only had one) she still produced a remarkable body of work - work that is still read today and deserves to be read

Dorothy Parker

 Our first inkling that someone could be terribly depressed and funny as hell. I still think if she and Benchley had would up together they would have had an incredible marriage and, at the same time, lost their subject matter. Better for literature, if not Dorothy, that she remained more or less miserable till the day she died. Some of the work is dated (the sassy reporter, prohibition/flapper sensibility) but in general Parker's stories and poems hold up tremendously. That is, the best remain dark, funny and poignant.

Simone De Beauvoir

 The Second Sex needs no endorsement. It is perhaps the most important book ever written on gender issues, and the cornerstone of feminist thought ever since. And here's the thing: De Beauvoir was a better writer, a more vigorous philosopher, and smarter, than her buddy Sartre. Don't take it from me; the professors at the Sorbonne all agreed. De Beauvoir should have taken the senior award that Sartre got but, guess what, they couldn't bring themselves to give it to a woman. No wonder she called it The Second Sex

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Elizabeth Wurtzel

Elizabeth Wurtzel graduated from Harvard College, where she received the 1986 Rolling Stone College Journalism Award. She was a music critic for The New Yorker and New York magazines, and her articles have appeared in numerous publications including Mademoiselle, Mirabella, Seventeen and The Oxford American. She is the author of the bestselling book, Prozac Nation, and currently resides in New York City.

Excerpts, Reviews and Links

BITCH WEB RING Other chapter excerpts, interviews, notes, pictures and introductory material can also be found on the various stops of the Bitch WebRing. Click on the WebRing Icon to the next link in the loop of Elizabeth Wurtzel's Northern California web pages.


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