'Ropes of stories': Jean Rhys, Vivienne Cleven and Melissa Lucashenko. Issue 1 (7th May 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gildersleeve, Jessica
• Is Part Of: Queensland review. Volume 22:Issue 1(2015)
• Page Start: 75
• Page End: 84
• Publication Date: 2015-05-07
• Subjects: Queensland -- Periodicals; 994.3005
• DOI: 10.1017/qre.2015.7
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1321-8166

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="text-abstract"> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Cultural narratives also function as lifelines in the work of another Queensland Indigenous woman writer, Vivienne Cleven. Cleven's novel, <italic>Bitin' Back</italic> (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref003">2001</xref>), begins when Mavis Dooley's son, Nevil, announces that he is no longer Nevil, but the writer Jean Rhys. Although Nevil eventually reveals that he has simply been acting as a woman in order to understand the protagonist of the novel he is writing, his choice of Rhys in particular is significant. Nevil selected Jean Rhys as a signifier of his female role because, he explains: <disp-quote><p>She's my favourite author; she wrote <italic>Wide Sargasso Sea</italic> [1966]. She was ahead of her time; she wrote about society's underdogs; about rejection and the madness of isolation. I know it sounds all crazy to you, Ma, but this is about who <italic>I</italic> am . . . [A] lot of people would never understand me and they wouldn't want to. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref003">2001</xref>: 184)</p></disp-quote></p> </abstract>