Try Rose Tremain. She is amazing. She won several prizes for her books.
The Colour
The Way I Found Her
The Road Home.
Margaret Atwood is my favourite female writer.
Printable View
Try Rose Tremain. She is amazing. She won several prizes for her books.
The Colour
The Way I Found Her
The Road Home.
Margaret Atwood is my favourite female writer.
I agree. I love some of her books, but they are riddled with these abuse cliches that make me want to roll my eyes and say "Tell me something new".Quote:
Originally Posted by JBI
I don't know if her background necessarily disqualifies her from writing about abused women etc. if she has the skill and the empathy to enter into their feelings, but I guess she does not, and that's why these parts of her novels lack authenticity.
It's not that; it's just she churns out book after book of Hysterical, or Quasi-hysterical women suffering as "unloved artists" in a cold, impoverished world of sexual abuse, and delimitation.
I wouldn't mind if she did it sometime - but that is really all she does. Despite this, she is the exact opposite. Why then can she not write about anything happy? It's not as if she has had anything particularly impoverished in her life, judging from her upper-middle-class upbringing, seemingly successful career, marriage, and reputation.
But I question whether we should confuse the artist and the art... or expect that the art is merely a mirror of the artist. This is a rather Freudian interpretation that often falls quite short of the mark.
I studied under an artist who had what many might presume to have been a rather traumatic and tragic life. He grew up in Poland and was a budding young musician... a cellist... before the war. When the war began, he was in in the section of Poland seized by the Russians and as a young intellectual he was sent to one of the Soviet Gulags at age 15. Caught drawing caricatures of Stalin, the guards broke his arm in several places. Following the German invasion of Russian all the Polish prisoners were set free as a per demands of Allied forces before any British or American assistance was to be forthcoming. Of course there was no chance of returning home... and the British and Americans weren't about to take these Polish citizens and so they were largely left to fend for themselves. He wound his way through Kazakhstan into the Middle-East and eventually Africa where he was stricken with Malaria. The disease so infected his arm that it became useless and he was forced to learn to develop his left arm. He eventually made his way to South Africa, then Britain, and finally the United States where he changed artistic directions and majored in art. His paintings were/are purely abstract... dealing with the magic of light and color... and are intended as spiritual expressions. In person, they are indeed quite transcendent. He used to ponder, however, why it was that so many of his students... myself included at that time... who were hale and healthy Americans born and raised in the most prosperous nation on the planet... seemed so driven to create dark, brooding, angst-laden images while he, who had lived through so much, was driven to paint images of transcendent beauty... joy... and ecstasy.
In his last last years, Pierre Renoir was racked with the continual pain of arthritis. It so ravaged him that he could not even hold his brushes, but needed to have them taped to his hands. In spite of this, his images never changed; his paintings remained as they had always been: a celebration of sensuality, beauty, and Eros.
The Romantics blurred the line between art and the artist... so that the work of art became... and still is seen by many... as a sort of diary... a biography. In many ways the biography is more valued by the audience than the art. Van Gogh and Picasso are the two highest priced artists at auction largely as a result of their biographies. This is not to say that their art is not "great"... but rather that the biography... the "cult of personality" is valued by many more than the actual art.
At the same time... I do understand and agree with you, JBI, with regard to what may smack of a certain hypocrisy. I can think of any number of artists in any field of art who seem to remain focused upon themes of tragedy... brooding... darkness... ugliness... themes in a minor key, as it were, is spite of having every conceivable advantage in their own private and professional lives. But again... do we assume that art is a mirror of the artist... or are some artist simply drawn to... and perhaps more competent at darker themes? Again... I think of the misunderstanding of certain listeners who imagine that Mozart is somehow shallow in comparison to Beethoven because he generally avoids the use of the minor key... and as a result, his music generally feels more joyful or uplifting... and then I wonder... is it as simple as that? All one needs to do to be thought of as "deep" and "profound" is to compose in a minor key... paint with an excess of black, gray, and blue... or simply select tragic themes to paint or write about?
Just some rambling thoughts late at night.:crazy:
I daresay Lyudmila_Petrushevskaya. If the question of eligibility for Nobel Prize makes much meaning to me, she would be the first in my list of eligible modern Russian authors. Splendid personality.
May be I would add to this list Bella Akhmadulina who is also a great poet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JBI
I've read Cat's Eye - didn't like it much. My favorites are Jane Austen, George Eliot, Charlotte Bronte, Edith Wharton, Mary Shelley, Flannery O'Connor, Alice Walker, Katherine Mansfield, Harper Lee, Carson McCullers.
I tried to read The Handmaid's Tale and found it so, so, so boring. Which was a shame, since I heard so many good things about the novel, however it really did nothing for me. Her style of writing didn't strike me as particularly awe inspiring - I couldn't properly visualise the dystopian society - and the story moved far too slow for my liking.
For what it's worth, my list of great female writers:
Jane Austen
George Eliot
Emily Dickinson
Virginia Woolfe
Emily Bronte
Mary Shelley
Colette
Charlotte Bronte
Flannery O'Connor
Katherine Anne Porter
Eudora Welty
Harper Lee
Margaret Mitchell
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Denise Levertov
Wooow, really? You didn't find it distressingly creepy?Quote:
Originally Posted by Thom Holliday
Virginia Woolf is incredible - The Lighthouse is a great book!
Here are some female writers I've enjoyed over the years: Carson McCullers, Emily Brönte, Toni Morrison, Angela Carter, Selma Lagerlöf, Charlotte Brönte, Pearl S. Buck, Elizabeth Browning. It's when I make these lists that I realise how poorly read I am regarding women.
Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters (even Anne, something about the women in that family just makes them incredible writers.), Mary Shelley, Emily Dickinson. I occasionally like Ayn Rand, even though sometimes she kinda loses me.
Lorrie Moore is good, just read her short stories.
I'm quite fond of Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, Sylia Plath, and Djuna Barnes.
For my American Literature class, we're only reading novels written by female authors. We're going to be reading books by Susanna Rowson, Catharine Sedgwick, Maria S. Cummins, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Harriet Jacobs. If any of them strike me as incredible, I'll make a note of it.
George Eliot and
Maria Edgeworth.
I am partial to George Elliot and Djuna Barnes. Austen is exceptional and the Bronte sisters are good as well. Gertrude Stein was very important. I have no time for Ayn Rand though.
Sadly I have not read many woman authors, I'll have to remedy that. Austen's P&P is pretty good though.
A couple of other names I should add, two poets: Wislawa Szymborska and Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen.
Anais Nin, Martha Nussbaum, Emily Bronte. Probably my favourite three female writers.
The Bronte Sisters
We have an equal number of good female writers. To start with Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey), Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre), Emily Bronte(Wuthering Heights), Anne Bronte(Agnes Grey), George Eliot(The Mill on the Floss, Adam Bede) and Agatha Christie. There are many other famous and good female writers.
Of course. Radcliffe and Gaskell come to mind. Not to forget Colette or evenQuote:
Originally Posted by anisha9037
Simone de Beauvoir...One could find many in the gothic genre alone.
(19th century and present) Anne Rice, Edith Nesbit....boooo shivers.
I love it.
My favorite female writer would be Jane Austen but I like the Bronte sisters too although I prefer Emily a bit more. I also really liked Harper Lee.
im shocked that Zadie Smith wasn't mentioned. I think she's brilliant.
I have always wanted to read her books but never got round to it.Quote:
Originally Posted by mgv1208
Which one would you recommend?
White Teeth and On Beauty are both great. She also has a new novel coming out in a few months titled NW
Thank you. I will check one of them out when I go to the library next.Quote:
Originally Posted by mgv1208
Welcome to the Forum :)
The best female writers are
1- George Eliot
2- Jane Austen
3- Charlotte Bronte
4- Emily Bronte
Emily Bronte <3
I like Jane Austen and Bronte sisters. I haven’t come across much of Harper Lee’s work but I enjoyed reading To Kill a Mocking Bird.
Nearly ev'rybody passes by Anne Bronte. Why ? Her "Agnes Grey" is a Template.
Zadie Smith
Lorrie Moore (Best Short Story writer there is today).
Doris Lessing
I think it's interesting how prominent female writers were in the nineteenth-century. When someone asks you what the best writers of that century were, a Bronte or Austen would come to mind immediately. If you asked who the best writers of the 20th century were, would you immediately think of a female writer? (maybe Virginia Woolf)
I don't like most female authors. That typed ... J.K. Rowling's first four books were okay. Joan Didion is good. Virginia Woolf. Robin Hobb. Shirley Jackson. Daphne du Maurier. Sylvia Plath. There are a few more.
I like George Eliot.
When I am reading a book and discover that the author is a woman, I often put the book down.
I have no idea why this is; I simply find myself repelled by female writers. This isn't always the case but most of the time it is.
I have to consciously try to stop this because I know I'm missing out on a lot of great work, but somehow it is really difficult. I'm not sexist regarding other things but somehow it is really hard for me in in literature. I suppose it's easier to read poetry written by a woman, but when it comes to prose I struggle. This must end!
Oh actually there is one that I have read and really love: Anne Frank.
I don't usually read women's writings and I especially never enjoy Holocaust literature, but the Diary of Anne Frank, along with the play by the same name, are truly brilliant. I cannot stress how much I love Anne Frank. This is really unusual for me because again, women and the Holocaust are two genres of writing that I never touch. Perhaps Anne is so good because it was written by a youth much like myself.
Women are not a genre!Quote:
Originally Posted by The Kid
By far, I love Jane Austen. If my hubby and I ever have a girl, we would name her Jane. (Our boys are William and Charles for Shakespeare and Dickens).
But I also love the Bronte Sisters, Charlotte in particular. :)
There are several great female writers, but those are my favorites.
Women writers I like:
Prose:
Jane Austen
Frances Burney
Alice Munro
Willa Cather
Flannery O'Connor
Margaret Atwood
Ursula LeGuin
Poetry:
Marianne Moore
Gertrude Stein
Elizabeth Bishop
Dorothy Livesay
Anne Carson
Drama:
Aphra Behn
Jumping on the Margaret Atwood bandwagon - I adore that woman!