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Five ‘Furies’ Writers Explain The Female Archetypes That Inspired Their Short Stories
The Virago Press project features feminist takes on wicked women by Emma Donoghue, Lisa Grant, CN Lester, Claire Kohda and Kirsty Logan / BY Rosemary Counter / October 12th, 2023
Quite fittingly, Furies begins with a warning: “If you are a woman, please make sure you are up to it. Have you girded your loins? Quelled your hysteria? Asked your husband’s permission?” Danish-English writer and comedian Sandi Toksvig cheekily asks in the book’s introduction. “Any female holding this book may never recover.”
It’s a big claim, but the feminist anthology—with the subtitle, Stories of the Wicked, Wild and Untamed— delivers via the reimagining of archetypes, myths and fairy tales by impressive literary names like Canadians Margaret Atwood and Emma Donahue, Scottish playwright Ali Smith, Nigerian novelist Chibundu Onuzo, as well as Trans Like Me author CN Lester and Promising Young Women writer Caroline O’Donoghue. Fifteen of the feistiest writers on the planet have each been given a womanly word (some kick-ass examples are siren, she-devil, tygress and termagant) and creative rein to go wild with their words.
It’s all in honour of the dearly departed Carmen Callil, who died last year at 84, the writer, critic and founder of feminist publisher Virago Press , which is about to celebrate its 15th birthday. (A virago, if you’re wondering, means “a domineering, violent or bad-tempered women,” although Lester, as you’ll learn, reimagined her as a trans man.) And since you’re no doubt curious about the rest, we asked five Furies writers to explain their archetype and how it inspired their unique contribution to the anthology. Gird your loins cause here we go.
“Termagant,” by Emma Donoghue, author of Learned by Heart and The Room
Define your archetype in one sentence? A termagant is a woman angrier than her society thinks she’s any right to be.
What is the quality you most admire about her? Frankness.
What’s the biggest misconception about her? That her nature is sour rather than her powers of observation being strong.
How did you channel your archetype’s energy for Furies? I took an angry person — Kathlyn Oliver, who founded the world’s first union for servants — and tried to be really precise about the things that would have been pissing her off in the moment my story was set, during 1918.
“Harridan,” by Lisa Grant, author of When I Lived in Modern Times
Define your archetype in one sentence? A foul-mouthed old woman.
What is the quality you most admire about her? Her concern for her roots showing during lockdown.
What’s the biggest misconception about her? That she was always this way. Once she was young and slept with Mick Jagger.
Which living person most embodies the harridan? Vivienne Westwood (only recently dead, if that counts).
What’s one thing you learned about the harridan that you won’t forget? Don’t rely on former lovers for your rent.
“Virago,” by CN Lester, author of Trans Like Me
Define your archetype in one sentence? Most dictionary definitions of virago will give only one meaning – a “warlike woman” – but virago and viraginity were also labels used by 19th-century sexologists to categorize people we now might recognize as trans. And that’s where my story begins.
Who’s your favourite historical example? My virago is inspired by the Hungarian writer Sándor Vay, born in 1859 – a phenomenally courageous (and sometimes outrageous) poet and journalist who lived as the man he knew himself to be, in defiance of the law. I didn’t want to try to portray Vay directly – my Nicolas is very much his own person – but I did want to capture both the inhumane ways in which Vay was treated, and his deeply compelling audacity and force of will.
How did you channel your archetype’s energy for Furies? I’m always trying to channel the energy of my trans/queer forebears. More prosaically, I’ve been researching the history of gender and desire for a very long time; the Furies editor gave me the word virago and it was like a touchpaper exploded in the interior library of my mind. When the smoke cleared, the story was just there, waiting to be written down. It was a joy.
“Tygress,” by Claire Kohda, author of Women, Eating: A Literary Vampire Novel
Define your archetype in one sentence? I play on the idea of “fierce women/mothers” and also the stereotype of the Asian “tiger mum.”
What is the quality you most admire about her? I admire how fiercely all the children love their mother and vice versa.
Who’s your favourite historical example? Yeshe Tsogyal is mentioned in the story – an enlightened Tibetan woman who legend says could transform into a tiger. In that way, she was a tigress in a literal way; but she was also a writer, a teacher, and is known as the mother of Tibetan Buddhism.
How did you channel your archetype’s energy for Furies? I feel like a mother when I write; I feel protective of my characters as a tigress would be of her cubs. They are real to me. I wrote the characters in “Tygress” with love and care.
If you were to die and come back as a tygress, what’s the first thing you’d do? Have a cat nap.
“Wench,” by Kirsty Logan, author of Things We Say in The Dark and Now She is Witch
Define your archetype in one sentence? The wench is a young woman who is underestimated and objectified by everyone around her – until she finds her own power and sexuality.
What is the quality you most admire about her? That rather than deny the things about her that others scorn, she uses those things to her advantage.
What’s the biggest misconception about her? That she cares about what men think about her.
Who’s your favourite example? Jennifer (Megan Fox) in the film Jennifer’s Body, mixed with Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) in The Witch.
If you were to die and come back as a wench, what’s the first thing you’d do? Have a one-night stand.