In case you missed the recent fabulous bookish news, Libba Bray has signed a four book deal to write a series that sounds fantastic:

In The Diviners, a supernatural fantasy series set in Manhattan during the 1920s, Bray follows a teen heroine she says is reminiscent of two of the era's most famous literary women—Zelda Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker. Bray, who admitted to having always been fascinated by the Jazz Age, said she's looking forward "to offering readers a wild new ride full of dames and dapper dons, jazz babies and Prohibition-defying parties, conspiracy and prophecy—and all manner of things that go bump in the neon-drenched night.”

The idea of teenage girls being exposed to Zelda and Dorothy (even a fictional/fantastic version) is a dream come true for me. I learned about Zelda only in the context of Scott's "drunken and crazy wife". I never knew Zelda wrote a book or was a dancer; in my English classes she existed solely in the context of Scott's greater genius. Zelda was the one who made Scott's life difficult and Zelda was the reason why Scott never achieved as much greatness as he should have. (She also apparently put the endless glasses of alcohol in his hand - even when they were apart. She was truly a devil woman.)

Dorothy Parker was a complete mystery to me until I left college. Although we spent a considerable amount of time (again and again) discussing many great white men of American literature, the women were not so much part of those conversations. (Five minutes of Alcott and Dickinson and maybe St Vincent Millay then we were done.) I don't think any of my teachers or professors were sexist - they were just all teaching general interest English and American Lit courses and there never seemed to be much room for women in the textbooks or lectures. When I did find her though, Dorothy was a revelation.

When did women stop being witty and passionate and creative? Remember all those fabulous movies from the 1930s? Yes, they wanted to capture men (specifically Cary Grant or Spencer Tracy or William Powell) but remember when women weren't determined to appear silly or foolish to get a man? Remember when they were smart and proud of being smart? And I don't mean smart in a "you betcha/Real Americans" kind of way, but intellectually smart, book smart, Katherine Hepburn in Desk Set and Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday kind of smart.

Dorothy and Zelda were smart. They were born in a time that wasn't so easy on smart women and they had trouble with love and they didn't find all of their hopes and dreams so easy to pursue they turned to liquor for solace from all that was wrong with the world. And I hate that. But what possible reason do I have to ever complain about my life when these two amazing women were not lauded nearly enough in their lifetimes?(Zelda was committed to an institution and died there in a fire; Dorothy passed away from a heart attack and her ashes remained unclaimed for nearly two decades.)

I hope that Bray's series introduces millions of today's young women to the real Zelda and Dorothy - that after reading her fiction they go looking for the women who inspired it. That's the kind of thing that makes me excited about reading - and also, to no small degree, about writing as well.

[Post pics of Zelda top, then Dorothy. See The Paris Review interview with Dorothy here and a new scrapbook of Scott and Zelda's life here.]