Jean Rhys-Please help!

[Crazychick]

Im currently doing some work on Jean Rhys are how she represents women in her novels. The books Im focusing specifically on are: Voyage in the dark, Quartet, After Leaving Mr Mackenzie and lastly, Good Morning Midnight. If any of you buffs can help me out with any opinions, past work or even some suitable links, I would be eternally greatful!! Thank you in advance xxx

[Hendrix55]

I love Jean Rhys!! Is she on a syllabus? Have you access to a library?

A common mistake is to conflate all the protagonists into one 'Rhys Woman' ie various aspects of the author without spearate identites. 

Rhys criticism tends to consider her white West Indian background (esp. for Voyage in the Dark), use of clothing and cosmetics, masks, 'amateur' prostitute dependent on men, absent mother/family, attitude of passivity and indifference etc. Could ramble on for hours - let me know if you have any other thoughts/ideas you'd like to discuss!

[Crazychick]

Would love you to ramble on hours, just the type of person I need. Not on the syallabus but chose her for my dissertation, but now really (really!) struggling!

Recommend any good books/journals? 

[Hendrix55]

Lots of material for dissertation! Is it for BA degree?

Sylvie Maurel has written a good intro. called 'Jean Rhys'.  I avoided the older books (from late 1970s/early1980s) as a lot of it is wrong, quite frankly. Elaine Savory and Mary Lou Emery are good too. There is a Jean Rhys Review but it's hard to get hold of. Her letters have also been published ed. Francis Wyndham and Diana Melly.

Links do come up on Google - best one is from a JR conference held in Dominica in 2004 with links to various papers.

What kind of argument do you want to make about the women?

[Crazychick]

No specific argument. Generally which themes are most evident in each of the books in terms of how the women are represented, i.e. poverty, madness etc.

Already tried getting hold of Jean Rhys Reveiew - you're right, very hard to get hold of! xxx

[Hendrix55]

I think the humour of the characters is often overlooked too, particularly Good Morning, Midnight.  That one is my favourite I think, partly because of the first person narration.  I think the story she tells of the kitten (quite early on) who was bitten then run over is interesting and can be read metaphorically - she does go on to say her eyes look like the kitten's when she looks in the mirror. There is also a good chapter on GMM in Rachel Bowlby's book 'Still Crazy After All These Years' if you can get hold of it.  What did you make of the ending of GMM?