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Six Literary Women Who Should Be Your Heroes Jemma Sbeghen
1.
Zelda Fitzgerald
Zelda Fitzgerald, the beautiful wife and word mistress of F. Scott Fitzgerald was an icon in her own right. Together they were considered the untamed Prince and Princess of their generation. However, beneath the superficiality and danger of this iconic charade, which defined a new era of liberation, was a toxic relationship that, inevitably, shaped Zelda into the original manic pixie dream girl: a woman who exists merely to promote male self-discovery and success. The darling of early 1900’s Alabama, Zelda was notorious for her outrageous and nomadic lifestyle, electric wit and charm. Scott took inspiration and, at times, knowingly plagiarised Zelda’s many journals whilst simultaneously suppressing her own publishing efforts; stealing her drafts and sending them onto publishers under his own name. Additionally, his character of Gloria in ‘The Beautiful and The Damned’ is almost identical to Zelda in demeanor and antics. Perhaps he misunderstood the concept of a muse to mean absolute, biographical replication? Who can tell? Beyond the pages, genius and writing that Scott claimed as his own, Zelda was a trained ballerina, painted biblically infused scenes from Alice and Wonderland, published a critically acclaimed novel and has a
video game named after her. In one letter to Scott she writes, “excuse me for being so intellectual. I know you would prefer something nice and feminine and affectionate”. Please Zelda, will you be my literary, surrogate mother?
2.
Collette
“Behind every great man is an even greater woman.” Whoever first uttered this idiom must have done so in reference to the great and scandalous French writer and actress Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. Entering into a strained and exploitative marriage at the young age of 20, her husband quickly discovered her raw talent for writing, locking away his young wife and forcing her to write countless chapters of a book series he would inevitably claim to be his own. Under her husband’s ‘guidance’, Colette created one of the most addictive female characters of the century, Claudine, whose adventures mimic many of Colette’s from her early years. The entirety of Europe was smitten. After rioting against her husband’s controlling demeanour, Colette began a six-year affair with the gender-defying aristocrat, Missy. Colette then became a performer for the Moulin Rogue and went on to champion literature that was eons ahead of her time, specialising in the creation of engaging female heroines who revolted against chaste innocence in favour of self-expression and freedom. 3. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie If you require any introduction to Adichie, you need only read her short story “The Headstrong
