Susan Bassnett

'Elizabeth I : A feminist perspective,' by Susan Bassnett, is a short biography of England's most iconic queen.

This is not a "standard" work of biography, in that Bassnett does not attempt to educate the reader about the complete story of Elizabeth's life from birth to death. Instead, Bassnett examines Elizabeth's life topically, using each chapter to explore a different aspect of the Elizabethean mythos. As such, this book will probably not appeal to anyone looking for an introduction, but rather to those readers already somewhat familiar with her life.

Her argument centers around the idea that the Elizabethan mythology has been both structured and fractured by the accretions of centuries. Elizabeth's unique story and strong personality have both fascinated and repulsed historians and writers, probably since the day she took the throne. Biographers, whether consciously or not, have ever since tried to "explain" her by resorting to interpretive typologies that, Bassnett claims, have unfortunately all been subtly shaped by sexism: "Elizabeth the despot, Elizabeth the lover, Elizabeth the inadequate monarch, Elizabeth the incomplete woman and many others." (120) As Bassnett readily admits, Elizabeth was often publicly ambiguous and remains difficult to interpret, but she finds the constant reliance on negative interpretations (capricious, flirtatious, etc.) to be a subtle if enduring expression of sexist stereotypes about women, rather than reasoned explanations of how Elizabeth was able to rule so strongly in spite of the odds.

This is an exquisitely written book -- short, to the point, and happily free from both jargon and theory. Anyone interested in the life and legend of Elizabeth I, or the pitfalls of biography in general, should read this book.… (más)