Cross-dressing in popular literature

[avrelia]

In another place people were asking about fantasy or sf novel in which a heroine pretends to be a man or a hero pretends to be a woman.

I thought I would remember more such stories, but I didn’t.

So I decided to pick your brain and check whether you know more.

Here is what I remembered:

Tamora Pierce, Song of the Lioness

Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment

Then, of course, Eowyn pretends to be a man to combat the forces of Mordor.

Those are neither fantasy nor sf, but are good with cross-dressing:

Gillian Bradshaw, Beacon at Alexandria

Georgette Heyer, The Corinthian
The Masqueraders
These Old Shades

And yet I am sure there are more. Have you read any? Can you recommend anything? Any genre works, if you read it or heard that it is good.

Are there any stories where a man pretends to be a woman (I can immediately name several movies, but no books.)?

There are, of course, classical cases – myths, Shakespeare, folklore, biographies, but I am curious about contemporary books. Can you recommend any?

Comments

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Good question! I shall forward it. & ;-)

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

here via monanotlisa

[kangeiko]

Not sure if this qualifies, but Orlando immediately springs to mind, as does Jeanette Winterson's Passion and The Power Book.

Also not sure if this qualifies (that's going to be a recurring theme...) but what about Iain Banks's The Wasp Factory? That's at least approaching the sci-fi/fantasy boundary...

ETA: And I'm guessing that some manga would feature this, some of which would be fantasy/sci-fi?

I found this likely list.

Oh! *palmface* I can't believe I didn't remember this. The Breeds of Man by FM Busby is set in a world that managed to produce a vaccine for HIV... and, a few years after it has been distributed to everyone, they discover the side-effect: sterility. So then the scientists work to solve that, and end up producing babies... that change sex depending on whether or not they're near someone's ovulation cycle. It's a bit pulpy, but that's why I love it (it's an 80s trashy sci-fi novel), and most of the kids, having been assumed to be boys or girls and then experiencing a change mid-way, spend the rest of the time pretending to be boys (or girls), in order not to let their secret escape.

Plus there's explosions.

Re: here via monanotlisa

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Orlando seems to belong in a category of its own. There is no pretending to be of another gender, Orlando just wakes up as a woman and takes it in a stride. Still, I loved it ten years ago, and probably it is a good time to read it again.

I haven't read either Jeanette Winterson or Iain Banks, though I've heard of them.

I am not much for manga, but The Breeds of Man sounds like fun! ;)

[auburnnothenna.livejournal.com]

Here via monanotlisa.

I should remember more, this trope is an obsession of mine, but off the top of my head:

Marion Zimmer Bradley - Hawkmistress. sf/f that has a girl pretending to be a boy and being rejected by her love interest when he finds out she isn't. Set in the Darkover universe. Written in the '80s, I'd think.

Lane Robins - Maledicte. Fantasy of manners, sort of, with Miranda disguising herself as courtier Maledicte in the course of revenging herself on the noble that stole her lover. Recent. (2006-ish).

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Those look were interesting. If I you remember more, please share!

[anotherdream.livejournal.com]

(Hi, random person here via a random link.)

Naomi Novik's Temeraire series has several females passing as males, although none of them are protagonists. In the series' world, 1800s Britain, female aviators have to hide their femaleness most of the time.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

thank you! Novik has been on my "to read" list for quite some time!

[dogeared.livejournal.com]

Maybe too far out of your specific area of interest, but a non-sf/f historical YA novel, Bloody Jack, in which protagonist Mary "Jacky" Faber dresses and passes as a ship's boy on a British navy ship. Really rollicking fun! :D

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

historical novels are good! thank you for the rec!

[wordwitch.livejournal.com]

Bradley's Lythande in the first Thieves' World collection, and then in a book of her own. It's kinda real angsty.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[miladygrey.livejournal.com]

(routed here by monanotlisa. Hi!)

The Ouran High School Host Club manga/anime has a female protagonist disguised as a boy. And her father is a cross-dresser.

Y: The Last Man (sci-fi graphic novel series by Brian Vaughn) has the male protagonist trying to pass as female in a post-apocalyptic Earth where all other males have died.

It's been a while, but I recall a secondary character in Joan Vinge's The Summer Queen being an androgynous girl passing as a boy. I believe her name was Ananke.

And Sarah Waters' Tipping the Velvet has a heroine who passes as a rentboy for a time, although it's pure historical fiction.

[gobi-rex.livejournal.com]

Good question.

Heh, I don't know/can't remember anything contemporary. Shakespeare's 12th Night is the only thing that comes to mind. And Monstrous Regiment.

[gobi-rex.livejournal.com]

I found this http://www.amazon.com/Female-Crossdressing-Young-Adult-Literature/lm/R2ZS58V7F1FT6D

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Looking at Amazon's lists, it seems to be a popular trope in YA especially.

Thank you. I now have quite the list and no time to read it... But something to look forward to! ;)

[bibliofilen.livejournal.com]

The Priviledge of the Sword by Ellen Kushner and that novel about Pope Johanna that I can't remember the name of at the moment.

I feel like I should know a lot more books like this but cannot think of any right now. Does it have to be the hero or heroine?

I'll have to think some more on this.

[bibliofilen.livejournal.com]

Just remembered that I bought a book like this that I haven't had time to read yet!

Misfortune by Wesley Stace

There is also Tahar Ben Jelloun's wonderful novel The Sand Child.

Laurie King's heroine Mary Russel often pretends to be male (and her descriptions of a female Sherlock Holmes are pure glory!).

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Both hero and heroine are good. In fact, there seems to be a dearth of men pretending to be women in sf and fantasy...

[bibliofilen.livejournal.com]

I was actually thinking more along the way of secondary characters.

It's no surprise that there is a dearth of men choosing a female disguise since there are very few advantages to that as long as we're in a patriarchy. Now if someone wrote of crossdressing men in a matriarchy I'd love to read it!

While that unfortunately wasn't found I did, however, find this while googling: http://www.amazon.com/Miss-Darbys-Duenna-Sheri-South/dp/0966800516/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

It seems that when a man impersonates a woman in fiction or history accounts, he does it for safety or erotic reasons - hiding or gaining entrance to otherwise forbidden place. The example you found does indeed look interesting, and, again movies like Some like it hot immediately come to mind, but strangely this trope isn't that popular in sf, even for comedy purposes.

You are right about patriarchy and possible advantages, but as it seems one of the possibilities of sf and fantasy to create societies with different rules and mores, one can invent the one with other advantages to pretend to be a woman, other that get into a harem. Let's hope we'll read it eventually!

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

that novel about Pope Johanna that I can't remember the name of at the moment.

Ironically, it's called Pope Joan. Author doesn't come to mind presently.

[bibliofilen.livejournal.com]

Yes of course. Thank you!

[ringthebells]

I have a vague memory of reading, about fifteen years ago, a novel about a bisexual Russian werewolf in the American Wild West. The werewolf in question, a woman, disguised herself as a man for part of the novel.

Sadly, I can't remember the name or author! (I thought the name of the novel was "Nadia" but Google's turning up nothing there.)

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

It sounds very very interesting! I hope someone will remember the title ;)

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

A friend tells me it's NADYA by Pat Murphy!

& :-P

[ringthebells]

That's it! Yay! I was starting to wonder if I'd imagined the whole thing.

[stultiloquentia.livejournal.com]

Here via monanotlisa...

I polled a couple of likely friends last night. These aren't all SF/F, but they're all approved of by fans of SF/F...and they might not all have crossdressing per se, because it's been a while since we've read them, but if there's no crossdressing, there's other sorts of genderqueer. :)

The Bone Doll's Twin - Lynn Flewelling
The Alanna Series - Tamara Pierce
Outlaws of Sherwood - Robin McKinley
Privilege of the Sword - Ellen Kushner
Through a Glass Darkly - Delia Sherman
Hawkmistress's Apprentice - Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Passion - Jeanette Winterson
Godstalk - P.C. Hodgell
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle - Avi
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons - Barbara Cohen
The Beekeeper's Apprentice - Laurie King

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's a great help!

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

I checked the title of Delia Sherman's book - it is probably Through a Brazen Mirror, though.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

You are marvellous! (I knew that, though.)

[bibliofilen.livejournal.com]

I've read at least half of these and have four of them sitting on the shelves behind me and yet I didn't think of them.

*headdesk*

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

(Here via monanotlisa)

One I've read recently is more YA - Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve, a story about, you guessed it, King Arthur, very realistically told. The main character is a young girl who is disguised as a boy by necessity first, and later switches between genders depending on the situation. There is another character, who is also a cross-dresser, and in general the book deals with elements of appearance and reality. I liked it.