sophie@mnetor.UUCP (Sophie Quigley) (08/28/85)
In article <1539@peora.UUCP> jer@peora.UUCP (J. Eric Roskos) writes: >Sophie writes: >> One of my favorite woman writer is Margaret Atwood. > >My favorite "woman writer" is Carson McCullers. I've never understood why >a female writer has to be sociopolitical in her writings in order to be >considered good. (Or to have a name like "Iron".) > Hmmm, I've only read "The heart is a lonely hunter" by Carson McCullers, which I think is a wonderful book. If all her other works are similar to this one, I consider her writings to be very sociopolitical. The strongest image I remember from this book was of the one main black character (a doctor, I think) being shocked as he witnessed some religious ceremony where other blacks were praying to become white once in heaven. Ah, yes, a very good book. Thanks for mentioning her. I feel very uncomfortable about using the term "woman writer", As though women were of a different species or something. However, in the case of Margaret Atwood, I think that the fact that she is a woman is very important in her work. Also, the original enquiry was about feminist fiction, if I remember well. Joanna Russ discusses this issue of the separation of "woman writers" in her book: "how to suppress women's writing". I found her analysis quite interesting even if a bit skimpy. It helps put into perspective the issue of writers being taken seriously when they are women. Quite a thorny issue. There certainly is not a concensus on this issue from the part of writers who are women either. >I like Flannery O'Connor, too. And Eudora Welty. > >Try "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe". Will try. I will also look up the ones you mentioned. -- Sophie Quigley {allegra|decvax|ihnp4|linus|watmath}!utzoo!mnetor!sophie