Rubyfruit Jungle
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Rubyfruit Jungle is the first novel (1973) by Rita Mae Brown, remarkable for its explicit lesbianism. The novel is a bildungsroman/autobiographical (some have suggested picaresque) account of Brown's youth and emergence as a lesbian author.
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[edit] As a coming-of-age lesbian novel
This work is notable for being an early literary lesbian novel, as well as for Brown's own activism in lesbian and feminist causes. Many lesbian readers have found in it a reflection of their own experiences and observations. Some now belittle it as "just another lesbian coming-of-age novel", though it was in fact one of the first lesbian coming-of-age novels. Its success is part of why lesbian coming-of-age novels are now a cliché.
[edit] Plot summary
The novel focuses on Molly Bolt, the adopted daughter of a poor family, who possesses remarkable beauty and who is aware of her lesbianism from earliest age. Molly's relationship with her mother is rocky, and at a young age her mother, referred to as "Carrie," informs her that she is not her own biological child but a "bastard." Molly has her first same-sex sexual relationship in the sixth grade with her friend Leota Bisland, and then again in a Florida high school, where she has another sexual relationship with another friend, Carolyn Simpson, the school lead cheerleader, who willingly has sex with Molly but refuses the name "lesbian." Molly also engages in sex with males, including her cousin Leroy when the two were younger. Molly's father Carl dies when she is in her junior year of high school. In a combination of her strong-willed nature and disdain for Carrie, Molly pushes herself to excel in high school, winning a full scholarship to the University of Florida. Unlike Carrie, Carl has always supported Molly's goals and education. However, when Molly's homosexual relationship with her alcoholic roommate is discovered, she is denied a renewal of her scholarship. Possessing little money, she moves to New York to pursue an education in filmmaking.
[edit] Parallels with personal life
The novel parallels similar incidents in the author's life.
In 1955, when Brown was 11 years old, her family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where she attended high school and experimented sexually with boys and girls. When Brown was 16, her girlfriend's father found her love letters, and Brown was dismissed from the student council [1]. In the 1960s, Brown attended the University of Florida, but she was expelled for participating in a civil rights rally. She later moved to New York City, attended New York University, and received a degree in Classics and English. Later, she received another degree in Cinematography from the New York School of Visual Arts, and, in 1976, she received a doctorate in political science.
[edit] Other novels
Other novels followed Rubyfruit Jungle, including:
- Six of One (1978)
- Southern Discomfort (1982)
- Sudden Death (1983)
- High Hearts (1986)
- Wish You Were Here (1990).
Brown has also published a translation of plays, two books of poetry, a collection of essays (A Plain Brown Rapper, 1976, and Starting from Scratch: A Different Kind of Writer's Manual, 1988). She has also written a number of plays and screenplays [1].
