:: penelly ::

Germaine Greer was delightful. She received a massive cheer when the audience spotted her on the sidelines and she got a standing ovation at the end. It was all rather exciting.

She gave a very interesting lecture based on her latest book about Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's Wife. She said it was the sort of book she couldn't have written while in academia, because it's unfashionable now to do a social history of women - to hunt through the evidence and make us aware of women about whom we know very little.

She made a wonderful case for Anne Hathaway, arguing that she must have been a strong, capable and very important woman in Stratford and that she was a devoted and loving wife. Apparently her arguments fly in the face of most other research - well, actually, there isn't much other research - most other hearsay about the sort of woman she was. Usually she's thought of as a strumpet, a bad wife and someone who was hated by Shakespeare. Greer paints a very different portrait of her.

As well as her book, she discussed Australia's treatment of indigenous people, feminism and misogyny, her rainforest regeneration work in queensland, and a bunch of other things.

I am not familiar with all of Greer's work and I certainly don't agree with everything she has to say. But wow, it was amazing to see her. She's such an icon! She's a feminist before my time, but you could tell last night the sort of lasting impact she has had. There were women in that audience whose lives were changed by The Female Eunuch. You could feel it.

She was articulate and intelligent - of course - but she was also passionate, engaging, charming and funny. I'm very glad I had the chance to see her. Afterwards I got my book signed! :)

Now I'm going to listen to her being interviewed by Margaret Throsby - you can download it here. I suggest also downloading the interview with Kath Albury who no doubt talks about her research into Australia's relationship with pornography. Interesting stuff.


( Some grainy photos of Germaine  )