What a great idea!
Start with the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, and then find fifty writers with interesting perspectives on the books to add a little something to our understanding of it. 50 Writers on 50 Shades of Grey is such a fantastic idea, one of those that makes you wish it were your idea. I am really jealous of editor Lori Perkins.
Yet, I was disappointed, too. There are some fascinating approaches to the trilogy here. What I really wanted was an academic approach to the books. Granted, there isn’t much academic about Fifty Shades. It is about as low as a brow can go. But, as a cultural artifact, it is fascinating. Begun as fan fiction that heightened the sexual energy of Twilight, Fifty Shades quickly established its own online readership, which led to publishing houses bidding for rights. I read the trilogy at the urging a friend and after hearing about it, well, everywhere. I was immediately struck at how much it reflected the structure of a Victorian novel, or more specifically, an Austen novel. Anastasia Steele starts the novel as innocently as any Austen heroine, having completed college while retaining her virginity. Skip ahead a couple of books, and you’ll find the heroine has overcome enormous odds to marry and start life with a charismatic wealthy man. The first line should have been, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Dom in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a Sub wife.”
I read 50 Writers looking for a feminist conflagration of all the domestic fluff that filled the few pages around the BDSM sex. Most of what I found was contextualization. Lots of BDSM experts were consulted on whether Christian Grey played fair in the Red Room. It was really interesting. Section headings include “Erotic Fiction,” “Romance,” “Sex,” “BDSM,” “Writing,” “Fanfiction,” and “Pop Culture.” Each entry is short — most are less than ten pages — and several address very similar problems or themes, like how to define the books (romance? erotic fiction? just plain bad fiction?). Each entry ends with a short biographical paragraph on its author’s expertise in an area. For example, “A Queer Leather Reluctant Support of Fifty Shades” was penned by Sassafras Lowrey, who apparently prefers the gender-neutral personal pronouns “ze” and “hir” (I don’t care for any of the gender-neutral pronouns currently offered up, even though I have long believed English should adopt some.), and who has written BDSM novels and facilitated LGBTQ workshops.
The Amazon reviews of 50 on 50 are divided and the critics are all right. It is still a worthwhile read, though. It has been fascinating to observe publishing change in the last decade. It isn’t all good, and Fifty Shades is a good example of how popular demand driving the marketplace results in drivel. However, maybe we will see other doors open, too, like the ones that give us new perspectives on topics we wouldn’t explore otherwise.
omnia explorate 