Kittatinny: A Tale of Magic

by Joanna Russ

A woman warrior, a sleeping beauty, a baby satyr, and a mermaid encourage a young girl into accepting free womanhood.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Queer, LGBT

92 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Joanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as How to Suppress Women's Writing, as well as a contemporary novel, On Strike Against God, and one children's book, Kittatinny. She is best known for The Female Man, a novel combining utopian fiction and satire. [Wikipedia]

Reviews

[Terna · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the finest coming-of-age stories i've read: featuring dragons, Slonches, Maxine Hong Kingston and this evergreen advice: "it's okay to be afraid, just not terrified"

[Alysa H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is great. Fantastical, fairytale, meta, and markedly feminist without being hamfisted about it (especially considering the era in which it was written). A shame this isn't more widely known.

[Kiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a perfectly sufficient coming-of-age fantasy tale, but it just reminded me of why I don’t especially like deep fantasy. The episodic quest structure is really boring to me and, even though Kit's quest is mercifully short (this book isn't even 100 pages), none of the encounters that took place on it really made much impact. Though I appreciated the revisionist take on some fairytale motifs, I was never able to care about Kit herself, let alone the people that she met on her journey.

I recognize, however, that this story could be pretty revolutionary for young readers, especially young readers in 1978 (when this was published). Its approaches to feminism and sexuality are a welcome reworking of the classic (and traditionally male) quest narrative.

Maybe I’ve just read too many other fantasy reworkings that have built upon Kittatinny’s legacy; maybe I’m too old to appreciate it; maybe I never stood a chance at loving it because of my aversion to the quest structure (although there have been some literary exceptions to that rule). But this just wasn’t for me.

[Catherine]

daughters inc.

[korrikayfeiten · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love team book

[Kest Schwartzman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beware that this book includes the most terrifying interpretation of sleeping beauty I've yet seen, and it may not be the best choice for certain young people.

That said- there's some really great characters, some truly beautifully used imagery, some hilarious messaging, and the best footnotes. It's a good read, regardless of age (assuming the reader can deal with said sleeping beauty, and also the -amazing- wor choice of "hanger and bags" for male genitalia.