WOMEN WRITERS AROUND THE WORLD
When
thinking about literature or writers, people, textbooks and society as a whole
tend to name more men than women. You may probably not have any problem if you
try to think about writers' names in general and mostly men will probably come
out. The task may become a little more complicated if we try to remember
writers from other countries or cultures and presumably no woman will appear
then.
Due to the worldwide celebration of the International Women’s Day, we would like to approach this equality lack through the lives and works of these remarkable women of literature and culture. Our sort criteria is based on the main languages we teach at language school, but the list of the unseen and muted female writers is endless, although it is getting more and more recognised lately, thanks to the Feminist Movement and its huge impacts in nowadays society.
Mary
Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851)
You may
have never heard her name before, but for sure you’ll recognise her most known
work. She is the author and creator of Frankenstein,
the first modern science-fiction novel, which inspired the myth of the creature
worldwide.
Her mother,
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was also a very influential woman in Women’s
History. She is the author of A Vindication
of the Rights of Women (1792), one of the earliest books about feminism,
that stands up for educational women’s rights and highly influenced the
inclusion of women in society and politics.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)
Hannah was
a German political philosopher and author. She also survived Holocaust and her
theories about society and power influenced most of the political theorists
during the last century. Her most known and influential work is The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951),
where she exposed how totalitarian governments apply terror and evil to
subjugate mass populations.
There is a
biographic-dramatic film about her life and how her thoughts influenced Adolf
Eichmann's trial (one of the most publicized criminal prosecutions against
ex-nazi generals) made by Margarethe von Trotta, a german filmmaker, in 2012.
Almudena Grandes (1960-2021)
She is one
of the most known Spanish writers and journalists of the moment in the country,
due to her recent death and her frequent publications in El País journal. Almudena was awarded with lots of literary prizes,
among which stands out the National
Literature Prize for Narrative in Spain in 2018. Her works mostly focus on
exposing the traces Franco’s dictatorship left behind during the last century’s
society and culture and how it also has an influence in nowadays ones.
She was
also very active within the film world, Patron of Honour of the Spanish Film
Academy, and six of her works were adapted into films.
Did you know any of them before? We hope you got some inspiration and not only reading but also movie and research recommendations for these days of reflection about the feminist achievements as a movement and what remains to be achieved.