Reading notes by Amy Bergholtz and Dimitra Cupo
"Anomalousness"
Joanna Russ, using an empirical and analytical approach, works through this article to show the exclusion or brushing over of women writers, and how they have been isolated from a female literary tradition. She begins her argument by examining several anthologies and reading lists. In examining the percentage of male and female authors represented in these collections, she finds that female authors consitently only make up 5-8% of those included. Russ also cites Elaine Showalter as coming across similar findings (99). A possible shortcoming in her argument is that these anthologies were chosen at random,which could also be seen as further support of her argument, however there are very few that are included in her analysis.
Beyond unequal representation, however, it "is the constancy of the imbalance despite the changes in personnel," that is most disturbing (99). Russ discusses that the percentage of women remains constant, but the women included do not. As men are added to or taken out of an anthology, so are women, keeping thier representation at the same low percentage. Apparently anthology editors can find room for only a small number of women. That there are others worthy of inclusion is evidenced by the fact of the inconsistency. Different anthology collectors are finding different women to include, while excluding others, always with the outcome of a minimal representation of women.
This isolation of women in anthologies, Russ quotes VanGerven as explaining, leads to their being viewed as odd, unimportant and detached from the literary tradition. Any existence of a female literary tradition is completely erased. This then serves as further justification for the continued exclusion of female authors (100). This anomalousness, Russ explains, leads to these writers being viewed as somehow abnormal. "Pollution of quality via anomalousness is similar to pollution of agancy via abnormality" (100). Russ uses Emily Dickinson as an example of this. She cites Blackmurto support her claim, who views Dickinson's work as coming from isolation or anomalousness, and therfore as irrational and outside of what great work "should" be.
Russ counters this by explaining that Dickinson was actually part of a strong female literary tradition, in which female authors not only knew of, but knew each other. These women served to encourage and influence one another, as well as reading each others' works. Russ cites Blanche Weisen Cook, who writes of not only how historians have ignored the existence of these relationships, but they have also deliberately covered them up or attempted to explain them away (102).
"Thus the female literary tradition has either been ignored, derided, or even...taken over and replaced" (103). Russ goes on to offer several ways of understanding this phenomena, such as tokenism. nother explanation she takes from novelist Samuel Delaney. This seems to fall a little short because his explanation is seemingly not backed up by any empirical evidence, as have been the rest of Russ's arguments. Russ concludes that anomalousness, actively manufactured by anthology editors and others, serves as a way to "ensure permanent marginality" (103). At times her evidence and arguments seem anecdotal or incomplete. However, this is a short section taken out of context of her book