Some Thoughts on Susan McClary's "Feminine Endings"

Abstract

Lpowerful, its stance sincere, and its appeal compelling and provocative. Those who disagree with the book's postulates may wonder why its perspective has had such an impact, perhaps a greater one than any other in recent decades, if national AMS meetings and the number of people who turned up at the recent conference, Feminist Theory in Music, is an indication. Susan herself, not just her feminist perspective, generates much of what gives this work its strength. Hers is the position of an outsider, dismissed by musicology journals and ignored until recently by those controlling the discipline. But, unlike many mavericks, her knowledge and training are those of an insider (she has a Harvard Ph.D.). The original voice and independent spirit which have kept Susan far from the mainstream cannot be understood without acknowledging the thorough grounding she received in the traditional aspects of the discipline and her