Yesterday, The Elegant Variation linked to this list of the Top 100 novels in the English language compiled by Dick Meyer on the NPR site. He freely admits that his “taste is probably medium-brow, male and parochial in many ways. Tough. It’s my list.” I can respect that, though I think his list could use more women. Quite a few more, actually. I’m not one for setting quotas but when you only have seven (7!) books by women on your list of a hundred, well, you should probably read more women. Indeed, Girls Write Now, an organization that mentors “the next generation of women writers,” remarked on Twitter: “This is why we do what we do.”
Obviously, this is just some guy’s list, but it does reinforce a prejudice that exists in American literary culture today. The writer Maureen Johnson sums it up nicely, I think: “Once again, men write “important books,” and women write . . . books for LADIES, perhaps? Or, no. Now I remember. Chick lit and fluff.” Just a few days ago, my wife noted that while reading is considered a feminine activity (she was pointing out that we know lots of women who read, but not a lot of men), yet writing — serious writing — remains the domain of men. This shouldn’t be the case.
When people talk about the “Great American Novel” (a subject that I’d be happy relegating to the dustbin of conversational history), the names that get thrown around are almost always men, first and foremost. And, well, that should stop. Read some women, guys (I think most women read both genders, though not always). Otherwise, you’re missing out on a complete life.
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Who are your favorite women writers, Patrick?
Any list of the 100 greatest english-language books of the last 100 years is obviously going to be mostly male and mostly white. I haven’t read a good chunk of the books on his list so it’s hard to claim he’s wrong. Especially since it’s just his opinion. In any event, if you want to read some wonderful books by truly great female writers of the last 100 years, might I recommend Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy (a favorite rec’d to me by an editor at the New York Review of Books), Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, Sara Wheeler’s Terra Incognita (nonfiction), Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies, Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin, Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners, or Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. I’ve enjoyed all of these immensely. For the teenage set, anything by Madeleine L’Engle, Susan Cooper, Diana Wynne Jones, or Robin McKinley is fantastic as well.
To be honest, though, my list would be largely male too.
Patrick, you’re a peach. That’s all.
I initially started writing the post with the idea of listing some of my favorite female writers, but then I thought “Isn’t it lame that I have to tell people to read Margaret Atwood and Joan Didion?” It felt like telling people that sex was fun and they should try it.
That being said, I do think there are a few contemporary women authors who could use more readers: Kate Christensen, Maile Meloy, Alison Bechdel, Nicole Krauss (who was on the original list), Aimee Bender, Kelly Link, Emily St. John Mandel, Jennifer Egan…aw, fuck it. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. I also second the suggestions from Kari as well. Lots of great writers there.
And Kari, I think you’re right that my list would be largely male, too, but I doubt anyone would’ve written about this list if it had contained 20-25 women. 7 out of 100 is just a ridiculously low number.
I think if there had been 20-25 women on it, the opposite reaction, that of over-representation, would have been brought up by someone, and it might have been justified.
I’m a total feminist, so I don’t know why I’m playing devil’s advocate here. Anyhow, I just figured I’d list a few of my favorites on the comments page. And, obviously, good on you for speaking up for the gals because the point is definitely valid: boys, read more books written by women. There’s plenty of great stuff out there.
Kati,
Sorry about botching your name. Inexcusable. And Kati is a much better name than Kari. Not sure I agree with the over-representation argument. I don’t know that I’d be able to make my own “best” 100 books list, but if I did a favorite 100 books list, I know there would be 20-25 books by women on it, and I still don’t think I read enough women. I don’t know.
Maybe we could agree that such a list covering the next 100 years should be closer to 50-50?
Absolutely!