Sharp: Celebrating Female Thinkers

By Michelle Dean (2016)

“For every person who's ever been told, 'you're too smart for your own good’”

In this witty biographical compilation, Dean weaves together the lives of twelve women who were, at one point or another, branded as ‘sharp’ for their writing, thoughts, or attitudes.

We have: Dorothy Parker, Rebecca West, Zora Neale Hurston, Hannah Arendt, Mary McCarthy, Lillian Hellman, Susan Sontag, Pauline Kael, Joan Didion, Nora Ephron, Renata Adler and Janet Malcolm. These women developed intellectual rigour in an age where men dominated the critical sphere. 

Dean creates an intellectual relay race in which each woman passes on the ‘baton’ (an idea, shared interest, review, or meeting) to the next, and so on. 

Each thinker’s past experiences are given heed so as to contextualise their future thoughts. The 20th century New York literary scene provides the backdrop for most of these stories, and the post-war influences are undeniable. It is fascinating to see how these experiences shaped their perspectives of art, politics, and society, in general.

Naturally, some of these women clashed with one another - stepping outside of their gender norms to express poignant opinions made for inevitable rebuttal.

The thread of ‘feminism’ is woven through each woman’s story, with the finer complexities made evident in their experiences of being intellects in the male-dominated sphere of publishing and journalism. To be scoffed at, but to carry on, was a common trait these women shared.

Of course, this book has its own web of valid criticism. Zora Neale Hurston is the only woman of colour represented here (Ida B Wells could, and should, have had her own chapter), New York is the only geographical setting (what were women in other parts of the world doing?), and at some points, Dean pits these women against one another. I understand each of these concerns. The latter, however, is inevitable; as mentioned previously, the conditions of the time meant that any woman stepping into this sphere in which they were not welcome, were immediately put in competition with one another. It comes as no surprise that they would butt heads with their contemporaries.

Though I had encountered many of these women’s works whilst studying politics at university, this book extended my TBR by a mile. I will leave you with the intent that Dean nods to:

“There is something valuable about knowing this history if you are a young woman of a certain kind of ambition.”