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
jagardner@watmath.UUCP (Jim Gardner) (08/30/85)
[...] An interesting point about "woman writers" that I've noticed in net.sf-lovers. When someone prefers the work of female authors to that of male authors, the person says, "I like women writers." When someone prefers the work of male authors to that of female authors, the person says, "I don't like women writers." For all the progress we have made, female authors are still the anomaly that requires comment. Jim Gardner, University of Waterloo