Women Writers Suck

At least according to VS Naipaul. Of course this needs to be put in context. VS Naipaul is the best writer in the world ever at least in his own mind. He also has superpowers that allows him to discern female writers from male writers within two paragraphs. Women are overly sentimental and can't overcome it.

"I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by a woman or not. I think [it is] unequal to me." Asked to elaborate, he said this was due to their "sentimentality, the narrow view of the world".

Poor women, but even more so the poor readers who have to read works with a narrow world view. I mean men never come across as narrow minded. In face more writers should be white men; we need to know more about the world from their points of view.

He added: "And inevitably for a woman, she is not a complete master of a house, so that comes over in her writing too.

This I can see, but I would argue that art comes from adversity and my even be more awesome than that coming from privilege. Silly me. But one of the things I love is when Naipaul explains how women can work in the business, but not as writers.

"My publisher, who was so good as a taster and editor, when she became a writer, lo and behold it was all this feminine tosh. I don't mean this in any unkind way."

How does one not mean that in an unkind way? Better yet, what woman publisher/editor is going to touch this man. Not that really matters because Naipaul is the best writer ever [sarcasm], but he is a well know writer for those of you aren't familiar with literature. He goes on to flat out agree that women can't hold a candle to him.

Speaking to Evening Standard editor Geordie Greig, Naipaul was asked if he considered any women writers his equal. He replied: "I don't think so."

Additionally, Naipaul thinks Jane Austen saw the world as sentimental, which is a horrible thing. I wasn't clear about that before, but sentiment is something should all strive to overcome.

During a 90-minute talk covering all aspects of his literary career, Naipaul slated the work of Jane Austen, and said he "couldn't possibly share her sentimental ambitions, her sentimental sense of the world".

Finally, as a woman, who occasionally writes, and even more occasionally writes fiction, I suck. I mean I have a complex about my inability to write fiction, but now thankfully I know. I can't write because I'm a woman. It all makes sense.

Writers like Naipaul, as far as I'm concerned, are the worst. These kind of writers force women out by these kinds sentiments. This is the same as saying women aren't funny (and as you can tell we're real funny). It is a stupid ploy to build yourself at best and at worst you just hate women.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23955458-women-writers-are-different-i-can-tell-they-are-unequal-to-me.do

I was told to use a pen name...

Yeah, when I took creative writing courses, we'd have to submit for publication, and immediately after laying out the assignment Maureen said women should use their first initial or a male derivation of their names.

I love Jonathan Franzen. I loved the Corrections, but he isn't the best author ever. I don't think he should have been on Time Magazine, and I didn't pre-order the book. I pre-order books I need to read. When I read about the fuss about his book, all I could think was this is going to be the most overrated book. Then I started reading about this white men vs. the world thing, and still I thought, who cares? Women and minorities are always left out.

However, after NPR and the Huffington Post I got to thinking that their may be something to this. At least to the argument that Jennifer Weiner makes about men create literature and women create chick lit. I'm bad for it; I give a friend of mine hell for reading "chick lit," which I define as a step up from romance fiction, genre science fiction, and horror. These are books written in a series that goes on forever. They follow archetypes and are completely predictable. But all books written by women for women aren't chick lit.

This isn't anything new. The novel itself was considered a feminine literary device during it's inception. Many women wrote them, and wrote them for other women. An interesting fact about slave narratives is they were written to resemble novels to appeal to white women, who they wanted to join the abolitionist cause. Women were kept out of the cannon and largely still are.

There is nothing wrong with celebrating Franzen's work; the concern is that the New York Times, Time Magazine, and a variety of others only celebrate the work of white men. Want a great book by a African-American female author? Check out The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow.