Pynchons Problem

[Keith Davis]

Great. Soon to read Possession. Good discussion.
On Mar 14, 2012 1:46 AM, "Bekah" <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> First,  I had no inclination to "dis"   male writers about anything.   The
> post which said  Oedipa Maas could be Daisy Bucchanan's daughter started me
> thinking.  My head went,  "Yeah?  Well... which contemporary women
> characters are well-written then?"   I couldn't really think of any.  I can
> think of plenty of classics with strong and wonderfully well-written  women
> characters in them,  but contemporary?   Is a strong woman (as opposed to a
> sex object and/or a political statement)  out of fashion in books as much
> as in film?  Where are the Dorothea Brookes, the Isabel Archers,  the Emma
> Bovaries, the Scarlett O'Haras, the Anna Kareninas - etc?  Maybe I was
> missing them so I asked.  (Otoh,  maybe classic women characters aren't
> that different from what we have in contemporary literature - ? .)
>
> Then, albeit a bit late,   I started wondering what I meant by the phrase
> "well-written" meant.  (gads)     "Liberated" ?  Not necessarily - lots of
> stereotyped "liberated" women around in detective fiction.   Did it mean
> "rounded" ala Forster?   Did it mean "poetically" written?  Did it mean
> contextually meaningful or issue-driven characters - ?   I don't know.  So
> by default,  any of the above (and more) can count.  (heh)  Mine?
>
> Strong women / beautifully written:
>
> Wallace Stegner's Susan Ward in Angle of Repose
> Toni Morrison's women are generally great -
> A.S. Byatt writes excellent female characters
> As I Lay Dying by Faulkner - all the women in that one
> Yashmine Harcourt in Against the Day by TRP
>
> bekah
>
>
> On Mar 13, 2012, at 11:39 AM, Keith Davis wrote:
>
> > Bekah, The paranoia set in because I thought you might be leading up to
> suggesting that male authors weren't writing good female characters.
> > I'd like to know what female characters you like, besides the ones you
> mentioned.
> >
> > On Mar 13, 2012 2:07 PM, "rich" <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Pat Barker's WW1 trilogy works on just about every level--war reporting,
> history, female emancipation, and of course as wonderful fiction
> >
> > rich
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 1:37 PM, James Kyllo <jkyllo at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Erica Tate (Alison Lurie - War Between the Tates) ?
> >
> > J
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 4:07 AM, Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> > Who,  in y'all's  opinion,  is a well-written female character of the
> post-WWII era  - use any author, any book.
> >
> > Bekah
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > http://www.last.fm/user/Auto_Da_Fe
> > http://www.pop.nu/en/show_collection.asp?user=2412
> > http://www.librarything.com/profile/Auto_Da_Fe
> > http://www.thedetails.co.uk/
> > http://www.songkick.com/users/Auto_Da_Fe
> > http://big-game.tumblr.com/
> >
>
>
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