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* "Occupation" or "Marie's Hospitality" by Wollstonecraft
(rape & pregnancy) 10, 10, 10
* "Occupation" or "Marie's Hospitality" by Wollstonecraft Some of you may already know this, but Mary Wollstonecraft was an early British feminist author whose 237th birthday is celebrated today. Her "Vindication of the Rights of Women," a polemic essay that rivaled the work of Edmund Burke, influenced many 19th-century suffragists. She married the writer and philosopher William Godwin in 1797; but died just a few months later, 11 days after giving birth to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the future author of "Frankenstein" and wife of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. It seems likely that the author of the present story is named after the latter, who eloped in 1814 with Shelley to Europe and married him after the suicide in 1816 of his first wife. Never say that you don't learn useful things here in Celestial Reviews. In this story Marie is being molested by a soldier, while her husband literally sits by and lets it happen. The soldier is from the "army of liberation"; and the husband reasons that the least Marie can do is be hospitable to the poor guy, since he'll probably get his brains blown out the next day fighting for their freedom. And besides, it's not good policy to say no to big guys with guns, especially when the guy's army is occupying the town. This is an interesting, thought-provoking story - sort of a combination of Mary Shelley and H.H. Munro (Saki) - which means that it has a surprise ending. Ratings for "Occupation" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 |