Archive IN/IN: Feminist Voices and Perspectives

In "Literature and Metaphysics" (1946), Simone de Beauvoir argued that literature possesses a unique power to capture the subjective aspects of our being-in-the-world that academic writing cannot always convey. Similarly, in “Poetry is Not a Luxury” (1984), Audre Lorde emphasized that the felt dimension of our experiences can be a revelatory distillation that vindicates feeling and ultimately leads to raising social awareness. In this way, literature can serve as a crucial tool for expressing the positive potential of lived experiences, providing a means for understanding and challenging the status quo and motivating socio-political action.

To this end, Womxn in Design compiled a list of novels by women writers, philosophers, essayists, and activists who have pioneered the integration of feminist themes into their storytelling. This list serves to complement the wider book collection and exceptional effort of the IN/IN Archive, providing a stimulus for the inclusion of more novels and highlighting the importance of literature as an integral part of a discourse that has the ability to name things unnamed but felt—an aesthetic experience that is personal, relational, and intimate.