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Jennifer’s Year In Books

Jennifer’s 2025 Year in Books

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Jennifer L. Shaw

Goodreads Author

Born

in San Francisco, , The United States

Genre

Art, Fiction

Member Since

January 2010

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Jennifer L. Shaw is Professor of Art History at Sonoma State University.
Here are some reviews of her recent book EXIST OTHERWISE:
‘Claude Cahun may not be particularly well known outside the art world, but this highly readable biography of the 20th-century French writer, artist, and photographer ought to help change this situation. Jennifer L. Shaw has written a fascinating book about a gender-bending lesbian intellectual who challenged ideas of gender and sexuality in both her life and art . . . Filled with reproductions of photographs and detailed descriptions and analyses of her writings, Exist Otherwise is a comprehensive introduction to Claude Cahun’s art and writing. With any luck it will bring readers back to her unique body of work.’ Jennifer L. Shaw is Professor of Art History at Sonoma State University.
Here are some reviews of her recent book EXIST OTHERWISE:
‘Claude Cahun may not be particularly well known outside the art world, but this highly readable biography of the 20th-century French writer, artist, and photographer ought to help change this situation. Jennifer L. Shaw has written a fascinating book about a gender-bending lesbian intellectual who challenged ideas of gender and sexuality in both her life and art . . . Filled with reproductions of photographs and detailed descriptions and analyses of her writings, Exist Otherwise is a comprehensive introduction to Claude Cahun’s art and writing. With any luck it will bring readers back to her unique body of work.’ – The Gay and Lesbian Review

‘In this first full biography of the pseudonymous visual artist and writer Claude Cahun, Shaw is intensely responsive to Cahun’s life and work (verbal, visual, political). In the process of examining and commenting on Cahun’s unique life, Shaw travels across time and across surrealism, Dada, a world war, and the anti-fascists and their effect on art and life in Paris, Jersey, and Germany . . . Homosexuality is an important focal point, as are the anti-fascists and the active rebellion of the modern against the traditional. Shaw writes that as an outsider woman, lesbian, and Jew, Cahun “trumpeted her role.” This book deserves a wide readership. Highly recommended.’ – Choice

‘Jennifer Shaw has written the first full biography of Cahun in English . . . The originality of Shaw’s approach lies in her situating Cahun’s work and thought within contemporary Symbolist and Surrealist aesthetic and political positions, while drawing on recent feminist theory, unlike Leperlier, who tends to bypass Cahun’s lesbianism, and unlike some recent scholarly work which, in seeking to integrate Cahun into the corpus of women artists of the late twentieth century, can risk losing sight of her historical and cultural specificity . . . This study is a richly documented and well-balanced account of a major twentieth-century artistic figure, in which Cahun’s life and work are interwoven in such a way that they illuminate each other.’ – H-France Review

‘As a Jewish, gender-nonconforming artist living amid the rise of fascism and widespread anti-Semitism, Cahun’s artwork challenged social norms of the time. The new book Exist Otherwise . . . features her photographs, sculptures, and illustrations along with diary entries and writing clips that have never before been translated in English.’ – The Cut

‘Exist Otherwise is elegantly written and beautifully illustrated with artwork, and includes an appendix with short, translated excerpts of Cahun’s writings . . . in Shaw’s telling, Cahun models how to practice radical art and action during politically fraught times like hers – and our own.’ – Wellesley Review

‘Jennifer Shaw has crafted mounds of archival information – including memoirs, letters, press clippings, rare books, and photographs – into a story of Claude Cahun’s life and works. Exist Otherwise: The Life and Works of Claude Cahun, a highly readable page-turner, nevertheless engages fully with the complexities that make Cahun one of the 20th century’s most intriguing artist–activists and an inspiration to today’s culture makers.’ – Tirza T. Latimer, Chair and Associate Professor, Visual and Critical Studies, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California

‘Claude Cahun’s writings and artworks tell the story of her own critical self-discovery, and Shaw follows suit, placing the works at the center of her gripping biography of Cahun as a woman artist and lesbian who managed to “exist otherwise” long before transgender and gay rights. In the graceful flow of Shaw’s prose, Cahun’s photographic projects illuminate and amplify her life, from the French provinces to Surrealist Paris to the occupied island of Jersey, where her guerilla anti-Nazi art led to ...more

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Jennifer L. Shaw’s books

Average rating: 4.35 · 55 ratings · 7 reviews · 6 distinct works • Similar authors

	Exist Otherwise: The Life and Works of Claude Cahun 4.31 avg rating — 49 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dream States: Puvis de Chavannes, Modernism, and the Fantasy of France it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2002 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Reading Claude Cahun's Disavowals really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2014 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Art Bulletin: December 1997, Volume LXXIX, Number 4 by Jennifer L. Shaw (Goodreads Author), Therese Dolan, Genevieve Warwick 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Paris And the Countryside: Modern Life in Late 19th-century France by Gabriel P. Weisberg, Jennifer L. Shaw (Goodreads Author) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2006 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Aquatic Mesocosm Studies in Ecological Risk Assessment (Setac Special Publications Series) by Robert L. Graney, Fred Heimbach (Contributor), Douglas J. Urban (Contributor) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1993	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jennifer L. Shaw…

Jennifer is Currently Reading

Jennifer Shaw is currently reading

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother): A Novel (National Book Award Winner)

by Rabih Alameddine

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May 20, 2026 04:21AM

Jennifer Shaw is currently reading

A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing

by Eimear McBride

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May 20, 2026 04:19AM

Jennifer Shaw is currently reading

The Complete Works of Jane Barker

by Jane Barker

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May 17, 2026 02:14PM

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Jennifer Shaw is currently reading The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother): A Novel (National Book Award Winner) by Rabih Alameddine	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 20, 2026 04:21AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jennifer Shaw is currently reading A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 20, 2026 04:19AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jennifer Shaw is currently reading The Complete Works of Jane Barker by Jane Barker	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 17, 2026 02:14PM · like
Jennifer Shaw is currently reading The Pendle Witch Trials of 1612 by David Holding	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 12, 2026 10:28PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Pendle Witch Trials of 1612 by David Holding. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Pendle Witch Trials of 1612 by David Holding <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jennifer Shaw is currently reading When Pendle Burned with Light by V G Lance	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 12, 2026 10:24PM · like
Jennifer Shaw is currently reading Tar Baby: A Novel by Toni Morrison	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 10, 2026 02:42AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Tar Baby by Toni Morrison. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Tar Baby by Toni Morrison <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jennifer Shaw finished reading Witches, Midwives, & Nurses. A History of Women Healers by Barbara Ehrenreich	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jennifer Shaw is currently reading Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jennifer Shaw is currently reading Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jennifer Shaw is currently reading This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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