Favourite authors = female authors

[scripsi]

I just realized that now that Neil Gaiman can no longer be in the running, all my favourite authors are women. It’s not that I don't like some books written by men, and I certainly haven't been conscious of how female oriented my favourite list is, until very recently. In no particular order, here are the authors I return to again and again, and whose books have had a great impact on me.

Jane Austen
Charlotte Brontë
Dorothy L. Sayers
Selma Lagerlöf
Anna-Karin Palm
Diana Wynne Jones
Barbara Vine
Lois McMaster Bujold
Ursula K. LeGuin
Frances Hardinge
Elizabeth Kostova

As you can see, these authors span over 200 years, and that made me think that even though female authors always have been fewer than men, they seem to survive much better. And I’m tentatively coming to the conclusion that one of the reasons they do, is because they write both women and men as full human beings. Lizzie Bennet, Jane Eyre and Hariet Vane are certainly women of their time, living within the boundaries their society gives them. But they also maintain that they are full human beings, worthy of respect and consideration. Men so often describe women in misogynic terms, but women rarely return the favor. So my idea is that female authors survive through time because the human beings in them are all human, women are never described as the lesser sex, Which makes them more readable for the modern reader. What do you think?

Comments

[flo_nelja]

I love Selma Lagerlöf <3

I agree with you on average, though I have read men writers who wrote women like they wrote men, and female writers who were unsufferable misogynists, they're the exception in both cases.

But also I think that it's not as important to me to see characters as "full human beings" as it is to you. A lot of writers, especially older than the ones you list, before the emergence of the novel, write characters who are symbols first and human second, and as long as the female characters are good symbols, I can love them even if they're too epic to be fully human (someone like Antigone comes to mind).

And of course lots of my fave writers are poets (male and female) who aren't about characters at all.

[scripsi]

I love Selma Lagerlöf

She's wonderful!

But also I think that it's not as important to me to see characters as "full human beings" as it is to you. A lot of writers, especially older than the ones you list, before the emergence of the novel, write characters who are symbols first and human second

Oh, I agree with you there. Different literary conventions, and I definitly enjoy that too.

[trepkos]

Sounds like a worthy dissertation subject!

[scripsi]

With a bit more work, perhaps. :)

[florianschild]

Very interesting. Most of my favorite authors are women as well, and at this point I tend to favor women authors when deciding what to read because they have a much higher likelihood of being enjoyable for me.

If it's fair to make a generalization, with the caveat that of course this doesn't apply across the board, I think maybe women are better at writing characters, as you said. Men seem to favor writing settings and action. Imo, both are equally good at writing plot. If a reader has a preference for characters over settings and action, I think they'll gravitate toward books written by women, and vice versa.

[scripsi]

Of course it's only a generalizations. And tehre are certainly books by male authors I love, and who has great characters regardless of sex. :)

[angrboda]

Always get a little warm and fuzzy when I see someone else put Frances Hardinge on a list like this, I heart her so much! (And I do push her at anybody who seems even slightly interested)

[scripsi]

I actually think it was you talking about her that made me read her in the first place. <3

[greghousesgf]

I mostly agree with you except I always thought Ursula K. LeGuin didn't write female characters very well, especially since her male characters are nearly always well written.

[scripsi]

Oh, yeah, she wasn't the her best on female charater, though I do love Tenar. At least she was aware of her male bias, and worked to adress it.

[qwentoozla]

Similarly, I was thinking about what current authors I'd be excited to get new books from... Ann Leckie, Tamsyn Muir, Martha Wells if it's Murderbot, Naomi Novik, Frances Hardinge... All women!

I love Jane Austen and Diana Wynne Jones too.

[scripsi]

Same!

I only recently read Naomi Novik. I don't know why it took me so long, but I'm enjoying her books a lot!

[lirazel]

That resonates with me! I just looked back at my list of favorite books I keep, and there are three male authors who have written something alone (Wilkie Collins, William Faulkner, and Chaim Potok). All the rest are women or, in a couple of cases, a man writing with a woman or women (Steve Brust and Mike Carey).

[scripsi]

I do love books by male authors too, but when it comes to the big favourites, well, they are all women. :)