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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'This is compelling memoir combined with rigorous thinking and analysis that prompts questions about how we live.
'The concerns of philosophy are important to us all, yet the voices and thoughts of women have often been missing from the conversation. In this extraordinary new book, award-winning Australian writer Julienne van Loon addresses the work of leading international women thinkers. She discusses friendship with pre-eminent philosopher Rosi Braidotti, wonder with cultural historian Marina Warner, play with celebrated novelist Siri Hustvedt, love with cultural critic Laura Kipnis, work with socialist feminist Nancy Holmstrom, and fear in relation to the work of Helen Caldicott, Rosie Batty and Julia Kristeva.
'By constantly linking the personal and the political, and prompting insightful questions about how we live today, van Loon invites us into a lively exchange of ideas with these remarkable women. This deeply thoughtful book urges readers to look anew at the question of what it means to live a good life.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Julienne Van Loon’s The Thinking Woman
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Other Terrain , December no. 8 2019;
— Review of The Thinking Woman 2019 single work autobiography'An insightful foreword by Anne Summers gives you hint of this philosophical book that celebrates being a woman. It is a compelling piece of art, autobiography and scholarship full of enchantment with play. It offers in its meditative approach to the everyday a journey that is also an inspiration, a sharing that is also a nudging in its sublime gaze at thought, emotion, reaction and contemplation.' (Introduction)
-
Where Are You At?
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Inside Story , April 2019;
— Review of The Thinking Woman 2019 single work autobiography 'Julienne van Loon asks all the right questions in this exploration of life in a precarious world' -
Creating Hurricanes through Thought
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , October vol. 23 no. 2 2019;
— Review of The Thinking Woman 2019 single work autobiography'The Cartesian dictum ‘Cogito Ergo Sum’, I think, therefore I am, states that the proof of our existence lies in our ability to contemplate our existence, to doubt, to think. Julienne van Loon in The Thinking Woman forces us to confront this notion as part of a six-chapter, part memoir, part study of philosophical thought. With the help of six women prolific in their fields of study, van Loon critically interrogates thought, the importance of the act of thinking, and what it means for our existence. She starts with a chapter titled ‘Love’, followed by ‘Play’, ‘Work’, ‘Fear’, ‘Wonder’, and ‘Friendship’. Each is an amalgam of van Loon’s lived experiences and her intellectual engagement with the ideas of women thinkers including Laura Kipnis, professor of media studies at Northwestern University in Chicago, novelist Siri Hustvedt, socialist feminist Nancy Holmstrom, French feminist and structuralist philosopher Julia Kristeva, psychoanalyst and feminist critic, Marina Warner, and the cultural historian Rosi Braidotti. This polyvocal discourse leaves the reader with a wholesome and new understanding of the dynamics of life.' (Introduction)
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All the Feels : Julienne Van Loon and Kate Richards
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , September 2019;
— Review of The Thinking Woman 2019 single work autobiography ; Fusion 2019 single work novel -
Wonderment
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 409 2019; (p. 48)'Novelist and academic Julienne van Loon does not doubt that the thinking woman is ‘alive and well’, but when she scans the (mostly) male names in bookstore philosophy sections and the (mostly) male staff lists of university philosophy departments, she wonders where they are hiding. Some, van Loon contends, were cast out from ‘capital-p Philosophy’ or were never admitted in the first place. Many, she notes wryly, are simply having a better time elsewhere. The Thinking Woman is van Loon’s attempt to draw attention to the careers and contributions of leading female philosophers, while using their ideas to flesh out what constitutes a good life for women. What are the necessary material and emotional requirements for women to live fulfilling lives? And how are these lives circumscribed by misogyny and gender inequality?' (Introduction)
-
All the Feels : Julienne Van Loon and Kate Richards
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , September 2019;
— Review of The Thinking Woman 2019 single work autobiography ; Fusion 2019 single work novel -
Creating Hurricanes through Thought
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , October vol. 23 no. 2 2019;
— Review of The Thinking Woman 2019 single work autobiography'The Cartesian dictum ‘Cogito Ergo Sum’, I think, therefore I am, states that the proof of our existence lies in our ability to contemplate our existence, to doubt, to think. Julienne van Loon in The Thinking Woman forces us to confront this notion as part of a six-chapter, part memoir, part study of philosophical thought. With the help of six women prolific in their fields of study, van Loon critically interrogates thought, the importance of the act of thinking, and what it means for our existence. She starts with a chapter titled ‘Love’, followed by ‘Play’, ‘Work’, ‘Fear’, ‘Wonder’, and ‘Friendship’. Each is an amalgam of van Loon’s lived experiences and her intellectual engagement with the ideas of women thinkers including Laura Kipnis, professor of media studies at Northwestern University in Chicago, novelist Siri Hustvedt, socialist feminist Nancy Holmstrom, French feminist and structuralist philosopher Julia Kristeva, psychoanalyst and feminist critic, Marina Warner, and the cultural historian Rosi Braidotti. This polyvocal discourse leaves the reader with a wholesome and new understanding of the dynamics of life.' (Introduction)
-
Where Are You At?
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Inside Story , April 2019;
— Review of The Thinking Woman 2019 single work autobiography 'Julienne van Loon asks all the right questions in this exploration of life in a precarious world' -
Julienne Van Loon’s The Thinking Woman
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Other Terrain , December no. 8 2019;
— Review of The Thinking Woman 2019 single work autobiography'An insightful foreword by Anne Summers gives you hint of this philosophical book that celebrates being a woman. It is a compelling piece of art, autobiography and scholarship full of enchantment with play. It offers in its meditative approach to the everyday a journey that is also an inspiration, a sharing that is also a nudging in its sublime gaze at thought, emotion, reaction and contemplation.' (Introduction)
-
Wonderment
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 409 2019; (p. 48)'Novelist and academic Julienne van Loon does not doubt that the thinking woman is ‘alive and well’, but when she scans the (mostly) male names in bookstore philosophy sections and the (mostly) male staff lists of university philosophy departments, she wonders where they are hiding. Some, van Loon contends, were cast out from ‘capital-p Philosophy’ or were never admitted in the first place. Many, she notes wryly, are simply having a better time elsewhere. The Thinking Woman is van Loon’s attempt to draw attention to the careers and contributions of leading female philosophers, while using their ideas to flesh out what constitutes a good life for women. What are the necessary material and emotional requirements for women to live fulfilling lives? And how are these lives circumscribed by misogyny and gender inequality?' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2020 winner APA Book Design Awards — Best Designed Autobiography / Biography / Memoir designed by Sandy Cull
