Other than a vague and nondescript email address of the purported editor, located in small print at the bottom of Belladonna's main page, one can only assume a quiet, passive-aggressive ensemble of feminist agitators bent on surreptitiously initiating a matriarchal new world order, one word at a time. Of course, I'm being absurd, but Belladonna is indeed a literary online journal focused on the various issues concerning all things Woman. Now, before I delve into a review of Belladonna, I feel compelled to sincerely and emphatically state my wholesale support of anything having to do with feminism; the history of discrimination, oppression, and prejudice women have endured, and continue to endure, should always warrant serious discussion, address, and activism.After reading Belladonna's description tag posted on an online directory, I expected a bold, incisive, and unabashed exploration of feminist leaning fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and criticism. So too was I under the immediate assumption that the site's appearance would, with equal gusto, challenge many of the accepted conventions of online literary layout and design.
Unfortunately, I was instantly disappointed in Belladonna's unappealing home page; a slapdash of two columns composed of headers inscribed in rectangular buttons against an unflattering, cut-and-paste, black marbled backdrop. Equally frustrating is the site's want of an organized and easily accessible table of contents; with most internet users accustomed to any number of readily convenient, intuitive, and immediately recognizable browsing features, Belladonna's dizzying arrangement is simply unacceptable (it only takes one second of first time user frustration to discourage further exploration).
After agonizing through various pages for at least fifteen minutes, it's clear that Belladonna is essentially a forum where writers congregate to test and practice their craft in a format based on the Japanese manga series, "From Eroica With Love," first popularized by Yasuko Aoike. Limited to a certain number of characters, and loosely structured around a particular set of themes, the writers of Belladonna take alternate turns to fashion, shape, and continue the story almost any which way they please. But then why should readers care, especially when such a format so easily lends itself to attracting an inconsistent collection of writers, many poor, some decent, and even fewer, great?
One of Belladonna's better writers is the anonymously named, "The Disreputable Duck," whose flash fiction contribution, "Moth Attack," offers a humorous and intriguing addition to the Eroica series:
Dorian Red Gloria, the Earl of Gloria, watched idly as his young nephew Philip puttered around the room. Being openly homosexual, Dorian wasn't planning on siring a child, and was thus considering other possibilities for an heir. Philip was his sister Elizabeth's oldest son, and a promising candidate. It was not often that he saw Philip, since the boy's mother was always suspicious that Dorian would be a bad influence. However, ten-year-old Philip was far more interested in his current hobby of pet bugs than in emulating his gay uncle. Dorian was hoping it was just a phase. He'd rather the next Earl of Gloria not be a bug geek.
Full of sexual innuendo, the Duck deftly juggles historical allusion and literary whim while subtly challenging some of the traditional roles assigned to gender identity.
Belladonna also includes several critiques and analyses; one of my favorites being the section entitled, "Gynotopias," which examines the competing perspectives and treatments in literature of both all-male worlds and all-female worlds.
I truly hope the persons responsible for maintaining Belladonna's web presence re-examine the nature of how the site is designed and organized. Although there is much good writing and analysis to be discovered, Belladonna's lack of focus and intuitive design severely hinders its intended goal of attracting and sustaining an audience.
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