The Struggle for Happiness: Stories

by Ruthann Robson

The Struggle for Happiness is a collection of loosely interwoven stories that explore the condition of a series of finely drawn characters and their various desires-desires for love, belonging, home, and happiness. Ranging in tone from utopian visions to stark realism and populated by a unique collection of women-from the guitarist whose supposedly dead lover turns up at one of her concerts, to the professor who has lost her ability to trust in anything; from the psychic at a popular gay resort, to the critic and would-be writer-the pieces in The Struggle for Happiness are sure to delight and astonish longtime fans of Ruthann Robson and new readers alike.

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Ruthann Robson is Professor of Law & University Distinguished Professor. She is the author of Dressing Constitutionally: Hierarchy, Sexuality, and Democracy (2013), as well as the books Sappho Goes to Law School (1998); Gay Men, Lesbians, and the Law (1996); and Lesbian (Out)Law: Survival Under the Rule of Law (1992), and the editor of the three volume set, International Library of Essays in Sexuality & Law (2011). She is a frequent commentator on constitutional and sexuality issues and the co-editor of the Constitutional Law Professors Blog. She is one of the 26 professors selected for inclusion in What the Best Law Teachers Do (Harvard University Press, 2013).

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

...by far the best collection of lesbian short stories that i've read in a very, very long time...they read as literature, not soft erotica, which i've found many queer authors have mastered instead of crafting literary masterpieces.
a beautiful, albeit at times dark, collection that i want to read again and again, but only with hopes that each time was the first all over again. although this is the first time i've encountered ruthann robson, i'd put her in the same category as ali smith, dorothy allison, rita mae brown, jeannette winterson, sara waters...basically, she's up there with my heroes. yea, it was that good...

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typically I dismiss short stories, but I liked these more than I thought I would. The main threads are lesbians, public interest attorneys, New York City and Florida -- the latter three the author and I have in common SO what's not to like? Oh yeah, and people struggling for happiness, sad and poetic. I could have done without the "Atlantis" story, but the last one, "Utopia," was surprisingly good.