"She sounds not like a woman, but like a man's idea of a women, and curiously enough, the idea of a man not nearly so intelligent as James Morris used to be."
I can’t find it online (just reviews of it, slamming it as you-know-what), but it is in Crazy Salad, the collection of her writings. Let’s just say she agrees with RW.
"Nora Ephron was appalled by Morris' notion of what it is to be a woman:
"I always wanted to be a girl, too. I, too, felt that I was born into the wrong body, a body that refused, in spite of every imprecation and exercise I could manage, to become anything but the boyish, lean thing it was... I wanted more than anything to be something I will never be – Feminine and feminine in the worst way. Submissive. Dependent. Soft-spoken. Coquettish. I was no good at all at any of it, no good at being a girl; on the other hand I am not half bad at being a woman. In contrast Jan Morris is perfectly awful at being a woman; what she has become instead is precisely what James Morris wanted to become all those years ago. A girl. And worse, a forty-seven-year-old girl. And worst of all, a forty-seven-year-old Cosmopolitan girl."
If only there was a place where books were kept, where you could go to read, or even borrow them...crazy thought: what if we all pitched in a little bit per year, then this place could buy a ton of books and they'd be available for everybody. HA, it'll never happen...
But seriously, I checked out my library's copy (eBook, took two minutes to get it) and I'm reading it, it's hilarious. Won't let me cut and paste, sorry.
I can’t find it online (just reviews of it, slamming it as you-know-what), but it is in Crazy Salad, the collection of her writings. Let’s just say she agrees with RW.
"Nora Ephron was appalled by Morris' notion of what it is to be a woman:
"I always wanted to be a girl, too. I, too, felt that I was born into the wrong body, a body that refused, in spite of every imprecation and exercise I could manage, to become anything but the boyish, lean thing it was... I wanted more than anything to be something I will never be – Feminine and feminine in the worst way. Submissive. Dependent. Soft-spoken. Coquettish. I was no good at all at any of it, no good at being a girl; on the other hand I am not half bad at being a woman. In contrast Jan Morris is perfectly awful at being a woman; what she has become instead is precisely what James Morris wanted to become all those years ago. A girl. And worse, a forty-seven-year-old girl. And worst of all, a forty-seven-year-old Cosmopolitan girl."
All I could find was this quote.
Fuck, that's really good. I hope somebody's got the whole piece.
If only there was a place where books were kept, where you could go to read, or even borrow them...crazy thought: what if we all pitched in a little bit per year, then this place could buy a ton of books and they'd be available for everybody. HA, it'll never happen...
But seriously, I checked out my library's copy (eBook, took two minutes to get it) and I'm reading it, it's hilarious. Won't let me cut and paste, sorry.
Esquire took it off their website, but has other pieces by Ephron. https://classic.esquire.com/authors/nora-ephron
Thanks for this. I have been a fan of Rebecca West for quite a few years now. What a treat to read this! Ms. West was very observant.
I've loved her for years. It was a delight to find this.
Have you also read Nora Ephron’s review of this book? If not, I highly recommend it.
What, no?