Marilyn French

Marilyn French

<p>Marilyn French (November 21, 1929 – May 2, 2009) was an American author and "Feminism , whose most famous work, ‘The Women’s Room’, traced the impact of patriarchy and social expectations on women. <br />
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<div id="toc"><h2>Table of Contents</h2>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_education"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Education</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_feminism-the-womens-room-1976"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Feminism: ‘The Women’s Room’ (1976)</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_cancer-and-death"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Cancer and Death</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_selected-works"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Selected Works</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_references"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li>
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</div><h2 id="w_education">Education<br /></h2>
<p>French studied philosophy and English literature at Hofstra College in Hempstead, on Long Island, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1951 and a master’s in 1964. She was an English instructor at Hofstra from 1964 to 1968, then earned a doctorate from Harvard. She was an assistant professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., from 1972 to 1976.<br />
</p><p>She married Robert M. French Jr., a lawyer, in 1950. They divorced in 1967. <br />
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<h2 id="w_feminism-the-womens-room-1976">Feminism: ‘The Women’s Room’ (1976)<br /></h2>
<p>’The Women’s Room’ is French’s best known work, and was an immediate success, selling more than 20 million copies and was translated into 20 languages. ‘The Women’s Room’ explores the life of Mira Ward, a submissive housewife, as she undergoes a path of self-discovery after divorce. With her friends in graduate school at Harvard, Mira learns the difficulties of becoming an independent woman. The book was partly informed by her own experience of leaving an unhappy marriage and helping her daughter deal with the aftermath of being raped. One of the most famous quotes of the novel has proved controversial, and inaccurately attributed to French herself (as opposed to a character):
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<blockquote>"All men are rapists, and that’s all they are. They rape us with their eyes, their laws, and their codes.” <br /></blockquote>
<p>French’s friend and fellow feminist, "Gloria said of ‘The Women’s Room’ that:
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<blockquote>“It was about the lives of women who were supposed to live the lives of their husbands, supposed to marry an identity rather than become one themselves, to live secondary lives It expressed the experience of a huge number of women and let them know that they were not alone and not crazy.”<br /></blockquote>
<p>French went on to publish other feminist works (see below, Selected Works).
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<h2 id="w_cancer-and-death">Cancer and Death<br /></h2>
<p>French, a long-time smoker, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 1992. This experience was the basis for her book A Season in Hell: A Memoir (1998). She went on to survive the cancer but died of heart-related disease on May 2 2009.<br />
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<h2 id="w_selected-works">Selected Works<br /></h2>
<p>The Book as World: James Joyce’s Ulysses (1976); The Women’s Room (1977); The Bleeding Heart (1980); Shakespeare’s Division of Experience (1981); Beyond Power: On Women, Men, and Morals (1985); Her Mother’s Daughter (1987); The War Against Women (1992); Our Father (1993); My Summer with George (1996); A Season in Hell: A Memoir (1998); Introduction: Almost Touching the Skies (2000); Women’s History of the World (2000); From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in Three Volumes (2002); The Love Children (2005); In the Name of Friendship (2006).<br />
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<h2 id="w_references">References<br /></h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/05/kate-mosse-tribute-marilyn-french-feminism" alt="A most radical writer, Kate Mosse">A most radical writer, Kate Mosse</a> (The Guardian, 2009) <br />
</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_French" alt="Wikipedia, Marilyn French">Wikipedia, Marilyn French</a><br />
</li><li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/04/arts/04french.html?_r=1" alt=""Marilyn French, Novelist and Champion of Feminism, Dies at 79"">"Marilyn French, Novelist and Champion of Feminism, Dies at 79"</a> (The NY Times, 2009)<br /><br />
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