Authorship

Right now, one of my favorite literary works is a book of monologue written by Eve Ensler called "I Am an Emotional Creature." It's a favorite because it focuses on the topic of women, but in particular the struggles of being a teen age girl. Although Eve Ensler wrote these monologues, she is not the only author of these stories. Other "authors" of this book include all of the young girls and women whom Eve has met. She hears life stories from girls from around the world when she is traveling as a women's activist then, she is able to use her passion and literary talent to help these girls share their stories, amplify their voices, and speak their minds. When I read the monologues, I don't think, "what did Eve Ensler want me to feel or to recognize when reading this monologue?" (a question that students are often told to ask ourselves) I think about the girl who is telling the story and how connected I feel to her and especially to her pain. She might be a 13 year old girl, being forced to undergo female genital mutilation in the Congo, or an Iranian teenager who is tricked into a nose job by her own parents so she may be "pretty;" either way their situations don't alway resemble my own, but have an impact on my understanding and perception of other women around the world. These stories are written in such a way that the girls are the primary authors. They are their stories put into the form of passionate monologues by a passionate woman. It is also my story; I am an "author." I feel so odd saying that, but based on today's class on "authorship," I am an author because I am the reader, and I have my own special perceptions and feelings that may or may not be like what the girls mean or feel by their stories, or what Eve means to get across, but it is my personal insight, something that belongs to me and something that over which I have total, free creative license.