Anna Livia | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Anna Livia in Nedlands, Western Australia in the 1970s | |
| Born | Anna Livia Julian Brawn (1955-11-13)13 November 1955 |
| Died | 7 August 2007(2007-08-07) (aged 51) |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
| Known for | Lesbian feminist fiction andqueer linguistics |
| Children | 2 |
Anna Livia (bornAnna Livia Julian Brawn; 13 November 1955 – 7 August 2007[1]) was alesbian feminist author and linguist, well known for her fiction and non-fiction regarding sexuality. From 1999 until shortly before the time of her death she was a member of staff atUniversity of California, Berkeley.[2][3]
Anna Livia was born on 13 November 1955, inDublin,Ireland. She was born to Patrick St. John, a writer and film maker, and Dympna Brawn, a poet, and had two brothers and a sister. She was named afterJulian of Norwich andAnna Livia Plurabelle, the character fromJames Joyce's novelFinnegans Wake.[4][5]
The family moved toLuanshya,Zambia in 1960, and then toSwaziland where she attended theWaterford Kamhlaba boarding school inMbabane.[6] In 1970, they moved to theUnited Kingdom. Livia attended theRosa Bassett School inSouth London for her primary and secondary education.
Livia graduated from theUniversity College London in 1979 with aBachelors of Arts in French with aminor in Italian.[7] She also received a post-graduate certificate in education from UCL in 1981.
In 1999, she had twins with her partner Jeannie Witkin; they eventually split up but continued to co-parent their children. At the time of her death, Livia's partner was Patti Roberts.[6]
Livia died suddenly of natural causes on 7 August 2007.[1]
In the 1980s, she taught French and English at theUniversity of Avignon. She was a co-director of theFeminist Press in London from 1982–1989. From 1983–1990, she was an editor forOnlywomen Press as well as their periodical,Gossip, from 1984–1988. From 1994–2002, she edited for theLesbian Review of Books.
In 1995, she received her doctorate in French linguistics from theUniversity of California, Berkeley.[4] She taught at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1995 to 1998.[8] She began teaching at UC Berkeley in 1999, which she continued to do until her death. She published her revised PhD thesis,Pronoun Envy (2000), in which she "developed a feminist analysis of the use of pronouns,"[6] in English and French writing. From 2001–2002, she taught as a visiting lecturer atMills College.[8]
Livia's first novel is about Minnie, a lesbian from London, who travels to Australia to visit with andcome out to her family. They barely react to her pronouncement of lesbianism, seemingly too busy with their own lives and identities. In her bookContemporary Lesbian Writing: Dreams, Desire, Difference, Paulina Palmer argues that Livia's novel "questions the significance oflesbianism as the key to personal identity,"[9] and "humorously exposes the excuses heterosexuals employ to avoid confronting and discussing the subject of lesbianism."[9] Sally Munt, in her exploration of lesbian novels between 1979 and 1989, generally views the novel positively, but states that it is filled with "counter-cultural specificities of early 1980s London feminism,"[10] that border on the "self-referential claustrophobia which can sentence a text to obscurity outside its own sycophantic subculture."[10]
All of the male characters names are John, as a reference toclients of prostitutes. In an interview forThe Leveller, Livia explains that "As a lesbian-feminist, I write in a lesbian-feminist context...The male characters are all called John...that's saying I think all men are Johns, which is true.... If other women want to read it, they'll have to imagine themselves into the lesbian feminist framework."[11]
Three of Livia's books were nominated forLambda Literary Awards for Lesbian Fiction.Incidents Involving Mirth was nominated in 1990,Minimax in 1991, andBruised Fruit in 1999.[12][13][14] She won a Vermont Booksellers Association Special Merit Award for translation.[4]
