Joanna Russ stands out even among the New Wave as a writer of considerable technical sophistication. Although the contemporary reception of her works is occasionally marred by reviews of critics who may be unduly influenced by her feminist subject...

One advantage of working in a genre is that things have to happen, you must create a moving plot, and that discipline keeps Russ' springy intelligence at least somewhat anchored. If she is like any other writer, she makes me think sometimes of Swift. She is as angry, as disgusted, as playful, as often didactic, as airy at times and as crude, as intellectual. The quality of outraged, clear-sighted, pained intelligence, at once incandescent and exacerbated, is one of the major experiences for me in rea...