Canons

This idea of a feminist SF canon would be to take a subset of the most outstanding and representative works to suggest to those unfamiliar with it. The Tiptree Awards give a top choice and a short list for each year. However, a canon for reading in general would include works from before the award began. It might also make different choices to be more representative. By agreeing on a central set of works to suggest to those new to the category, then readers will eventually have a set of stories that they know in common which they can use as material for comparison and to discuss new works.

There are at least several ways to organize such as canon...

A Historical Canon

This was a list assembled by Liz Henry, which is organized chronologically by when the story was written. She notes that more young adult titles should perhaps be added to the list. (cf. "Possible canons")

• Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
• The Mystery of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe
• (Perhaps some gothic short stories by Elizabeth Gaskell or Louisa May Alcott)
• The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• The Country of the Pointed Firs, by Sarah Orne Jewett
• The Feather Pillow, Horacio Quiroga
• (perhaps something by Juana Gorriti instead of the above)
• Orlando, by Virginia Woolf
• "The Monkey" or "The Roads Round Pisa", by Isak Dinesen
• Memoirs of a Spacewoman, by Naomi Mitchison
• Carmen Dog, by Carol Emshwiller
• The Wanderground, by Sally Gearhart
• The Gate to Women's Country, by Sherri Tepper
• Walk to the End of the World, by Suzy McKee Charnas
• The Female Man, by Joanna Russ
• "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" by James Tiptree Jr
• The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
• Women of Wonder, edited by Pamela Sargent
• Xenogenesis, by Octavia Butler
• White Queen, Gwyneth Jones
• Cetaganda, by Lois McMaster Bujold
• Troll, by Johanna Sinisalo