On Strike Against God

August 12, 2024
This insightful critical edition of the 1980 novella from Russ (1937–2011) highlights the enduring vitality of its story about an English professor’s lesbian awakening. Esther, 38, lives in a small college town, having divorced the man she loved but could never have satisfying sex with. During the summer break, she chats with her friend Jean—a graduate student in classics whom Esther nicknames “the Twenty-Six-Year-Old Wonder”—about their frustrations over the patriarchal status quo and the careers of women writers. Eventually, their mutual attraction forces them to reevaluate their identities. Russ’s prose glints with wit and sublimated rage, especially when exploring lesbian alienation from mainstream notions of womanhood and describing Esther’s encounters with casually misogynistic men (“You’re strange creatures, you women intellectuals. Tell me: what’s it like to be a woman?” a colleague says to her, prompting her to imagine shooting him and saying, “It’s like that”). Pollak and contributor Jeanne Thornton skillfully contextualize the novel in the women’s liberation movement and Russ’s wider bibliography, and note her impact on contemporary writers. It’s a fantastic introduction for those unfamiliar with the author, and a valuable addition to the collection of any Russ devotee.