Contemporary American female writers

[bekah]

At 12:25 AM +0300 10/8/06, Ya Sam wrote:
>To my shame I have realised that I know next to nothing about 
>contemporary American female writers, let us say Vollmann, Wallace, 
>Powers generation, so J.C. Oates or Toni Morrison would not count. 
>Are there female writers of recent who could interest a Pynchon 
>reader, or, in other words, more or less 'serious' reader?
>


Someone mentioned Ozick and she's good - try The Shawl (a short 
story) or Heir to the Glimmering World.  She's very Jewish - I'd say 
she's a female Isaac Singer.  Leslie Marmon Silko is supposed to be 
good but I've not got to read her, yet.  Silko is very Native 
American.  Barbara Kingsolver has been moderately good in the past 
but she wears her politics on her book-jacket.  Donna Tartt had a 
real winner out a few years ago with "The Secret History" but her 
subsequent "Little Friend"  was a major disappointment.  Annie Proulx 
has had a couple of interesting books out - The Shipping News and 
Brokeback Mountain.   Ursula Le Guin writes sci-fi/fantasy but it's 
very darned good.


Zadie Smith's  "On Beauty" was excellent (let me recommend this one!) 
.  Smith is originally from England.   Geraldine Brooks's  "March" 
was pretty good but she is originally from Australia.    "March" won 
the Pulitzer this year although that certainly does not recommend it 
for being Pynchonesque.)   And there's Alice Munro,  but she's 
Canadian as is Margaret Atwood and Carol Shields.


I've found more women outside the US to be top-notch writers than 
American women these days.   Ali Smith (Hotel World and The 
Accidental)  Angela Carter,  A.S. Byatt,  Anita Desai,  Arundati Roy, 
Monica Ali,  Sarah Hall (try The Electric Michelangelo) ,  Marina 
Lewycka, Andrea Levy - oh many more...

Of the whole lot of them,  if you're looking for something more or 
less Pynchonesque (loosely speaking),  I'd try Ali Smith, Angela 
Carter, Sarah Hall,  Zadie Smith.

Bekah


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