Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 20, 1994 TAG: 9402180381
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
By Marlene Barr. University of Iowa Press. (No price listed.)
Marlene S. Barr, an associate professor of English at Virginia Tech, has written or edited several books about women who write in the science fiction field. In her latest, she calls for a new genre of "feminist fabulation," which she sees as a connection between feminist science fiction and feminist mainstream fiction.
This book, subtitled "Space/Postmodern Fiction," is more of an academic tome than Barr's previous writings on the subject. It presupposes at least some familiarity with the women writers whose works are cited. A surprisingly small percentage of the women would be classified as science fiction writers, so maybe a new classification is needed for this field.
Actually, the field as defined by Barr goes far beyond science fiction (despite a few chapter titles playing on the names of sci-fi movies), encompassing writings on women in sports, in airplanes and in any number of other situations on, above and beyond our planet. It will definitely widen the horizons of those limited to the science fiction field alone.
- PAUL DELLINGER
A Southern Collection.
By Estill Curtis Pennington. University of Georgia Press. $39.95 (cloth) $24.95 (trade paper).
Described as "Select works from a permanent collection of painting in the South prepared for the opening of the Morris Museum of art," this work is a tribute to William Shivers Morris Jr., Florence Hill Morris and the inaugural exhibition at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia. The South in this instance is defined as "The geographic range extended along the Mason-Dixon line from Maryland to Missouri, precisely the border drawn by Congress throughout the antebellum period to define the South in socioeconomic terms."
However, to pick up the book and flip through it casually, it's clear that the works represent a wider range that is not just southern, but that mystery of the South, or things Southern does permeate the collection. The accompanying text is interesting and appears to be based on reliable research. Art books have to be savored slowly and this one is no exception. But just as there is no one southern accent, neither is there just +one+ southern artistic style.
Augusta, Georgia, can now boast of more than just one "Masters" and I now have a second reason to keep it on my list of places I want to visit in the USA.
- PEGGY C. DAVIS
\ Paul Dellinger covers Pulaski County for the New River Bureau of this newspaper.\ Peggy C. Davis reviews books regularly for this page.
by CNB