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Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology Paperback – March 8, 2022

by Jess Zimmerman (Author)

4.4 242 ratings

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A fresh cultural analysis of female monsters from Greek mythology, and an invitation for all women to reclaim these stories as inspiration for a more wild, more “monstrous” version of feminism

The folklore that has shaped our dominant culture teems with frightening female creatures. In our language, in our stories (many written by men), we underline the idea that women who step out of bounds—who are angry or greedy or ambitious, who are overtly sexual or not sexy enough—aren’t just outside the norm. They’re unnatural. Monstrous. But maybe, the traits we’ve been told make us dangerous and undesirable are actually our greatest strengths.

Through fresh analysis of 11 female monsters, including Medusa, the Harpies, the Furies, and the Sphinx, Jess Zimmerman takes us on an illuminating feminist journey through mythology. She guides women (and others) to reexamine their relationships with traits like hunger, anger, ugliness, and ambition, teaching readers to embrace a new image of the female hero: one that looks a lot like a monster, with the agency and power to match.

Often, women try to avoid the feeling of monstrousness, of being grotesquely alien, by tamping down those qualities that we’re told fall outside the bounds of natural femininity. But monsters also get to do what other female characters—damsels, love interests, and even most heroines—do not. Monsters get to be complete, unrestrained, and larger than life. Today, women are becoming increasingly aware of the ways rules and socially constructed expectations have diminished us. After seeing where compliance gets us—harassed, shut out, and ruled by predators—women have never been more ready to become repellent, fearsome, and ravenous.

Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Beacon Press
Publication date

March 8, 2022
Dimensions

6 x 0.64 x 8.9 inches
ISBN-10

0807055549
ISBN-13

978-0807055540
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A graceful stylist who casts a wide literary and geographical net, Zimmerman can make nearly anything interesting . . . . Nearly every page, however, brings fresh insights into age-old myths or tragicomic observations on 21st-century womanhood . . . . A sparkling and perceptive critique of ancient ideas that still hold women back.”
—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“A fresh look at female-coded monsters from mythology offers insight about embracing characteristics that people fear.”
—Shelf Awareness

“An engaging parsing that addresses the ways that sexism and misogyny constrain women, a provocative weaving of the personal and the political.”
—The Progressive

“Many readers will feel the truth of this book in their bones as Zimmerman dissects the mythologies that still constrain women.”
—Christian Science Monitor

“Every one of these essays is muscular and dangerous, with a mouth full of teeth. Women and Other Monsters is sure to become a feminist classic.”
—Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House

“A thoughtful and deeply personal set of meditations on two subjects dear to my heart. Though as I read this, I couldn’t help but feel that it had been written for me personally, I suspect that it was written for you too.”
—Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble

“Women and Other Monsters reconsiders and spins anew myths that have long instructed and inspired us, detailing modern and longstanding terrors women face while illuminating the monstrous powers we may yet reclaim. I started to make a list of people I wanted to give this book to, then realized the answer was just ‘everyone I know.’ Jess Zimmerman’s writing is always a gift, and this is a work of epic bravery and beauty, brimming with insights that slice to the bone.”
—Nicole Chung, author of All You Can Ever Know

“Jess Zimmerman’s writing is always intimate and fierce, piercing and warm. I loved Women and Other Monsters—I ate it up, and it felt a little like it devoured me right back.”
—Scaachi Koul, author of One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter

“We are so long overdue for new mythologies about women and power. Jess Zimmerman’s book is a pitch-perfect antidote to the sexist hash of our traditional stories.”
—Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her

About the Author

Jess Zimmerman is the editor in chief of Electric Literature. Her essays, fiction, opinion pieces, and prose poetry have appeared in publications including Vice, Slate, The Cut, the Washington Post, The Guardian, and the New Republic. She lives in Brooklyn. Connect with her @j_zimms.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Beacon Press (March 8, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807055549
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807055540
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.64 x 8.9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #251,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #514 in Feminist Theory (Books)
- #559 in Folklore & Mythology Studies
- #754 in Literary Criticism & Theory

Customer Reviews:
4.4 242 ratings

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Jess Zimmerman

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Jess Zimmerman is an editor at Quirk Books, and has been published in the Guardian, the New Republic, Slate, Hazlitt, Catapult, and others. Her essays have been recognized as notable in Best American Essays 2016 and Best American Essays 2017, and she was also the winner of the 2016 Paper Darts fiction contest. She lives in Brooklyn.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

242 global ratings

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Amazon Customer

A refreshing, eye-opening take on what it means to be monsterous

Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2021

Verified Purchase

This was a book I was hoping would be written by someone braver than I. Ever since learning Medusa's true origins as the "first" rape survivor who was unfairly punished for an event that wasn't her fault and being able to relate so hard to Medusa because of my own past experiences, I have combed book lists trying to find books that took ownership of her perspective of the story, and even other perspectives on other monsters. No one wants to write sympathetically about what makes a monster, we tend to want to write about heroes and everything being okay. This book, I hope, will give more women permission to embrace the monsters within us that we tamp down because they're not "lady-like" or "appropriate". This was a fantastic book!!

15 people found this helpful

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N. Edwards

The myth and reality

Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2021

Verified Purchase

A very well written book that wasn't what I thought it would be.

This is a deep exploration of feelings as well as myth. A look at the role-playing women have been forced to be part of. The recognition of the problem is palpable, like exploration of a gaping wound and yet there is a subtle wink that says we are not fooled and we are about done with that.

6 people found this helpful

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Carrie

First 6 chapters are good

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2022

Verified Purchase

I really wanted to love this book. I loved the concept but it got repetitive after awhile. I wasn't able to finish the book.

3 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Thought provoking and beautiful.

Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2021

Verified Purchase

A curiously intimate social commentary, well seasoned with lyricism. The kind of book that had me staring into space at the end of each chapter just to appreciate how resonant it was. A truly great read.

8 people found this helpful

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SYDNEY STARK

classical references

Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2021

Verified Purchase

This is a great read for women especially.

Helpful

Victoria

Lots of detail on the author's personal experience

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2021

Verified Purchase

This was not was I was expecting at all. I adore mythology and am a passionate feminist. I thought I was getting an enjoyable read. There was so much detail about the author's personal experience I couldn't finish it. I wasn't expecting an autobiography. I didn't sign up to learn that much about her personally. This may be a great book for someone who has had self-esteem troubles throughout life so they know they are not alone. I have not had that experience and could not relate at all. There were bits of mythology worked in, but nothing that could keep me turning the pages.

32 people found this helpful

Helpful

J. Miller

Varies from Oh, That's Interesting to Oh, That's Me.

Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2023

This is a smallish book of modern, generally personal-first essays that is backgrounded in Greco-Roman mythology. I suspect it helps to be the target market for, for example, Stephen Fry's "Heroes" as well, to which this serves a brilliant counterpoint. There was only one chapter (Chimera) that didn't feel like it worked, but maybe I just didn't quite relate to enough of the matter in it for it to land; everything else was brilliant. I particularly liked the chapter on the Sirens, but was solidly tuned-in for the lot of them.

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2022

I wish I had read this book as a teenager. I wish I had read it as a child. I wish that I had this perspective in my life before I had spent half of it making myself small and being the easy-going girl who let myself and other women be the butt of the joke because speaking up would make me unattractive and too loud and too sensitive.

Read this book. It's funny and eye-opening and raw and powerful.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Sasha Nikitina

very disappointing

Reviewed in Germany on March 4, 2023

Verified Purchase

misleading description and the name, as if there is some profound analysis of monstrosity in mythology in connection to feminism studies. inside there's neither. it could easily be a blog instead, i'm unpleasantly surprised with the author's audacity to make this a book. very disappointing.

Amazon Customer

good book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 24, 2023

Verified Purchase

This was bought as a present - the recipient loved it.

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