Culturebox: Can a Woman Be a "Great American Novelist"?

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doublex Can a Woman Be a "Great American Novelist"? If you doubt unconscious bias exists, you live in a man's world. By Meghan O'Rourke Posted Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010, at 10:10 AM ET The literary debate of the fall is the tempest everyone is now calling, illogically, "Franzenfreude." The storm, summarized here by Ruth Franklin in TNR online, has encompassed a debate about the place of commercial fiction and whether Jonathan Franzen's work is overrated. But I'm interested less in arguments about the relative merits of Franzen's latest novel, Freedom--I'm halfway through and find it artful and engaging--and more in the deeper question raised by the debate: Namely, why women are so infrequently heralded as great novelists. A thought exercise, perhaps specious: If this book had been written by a woman (say, Jennifer Franzen), would it have been called "a masterpiece of American fiction" in the first line of its front-page New York Times review; would its author, perhaps with longer hair and make-up, have been featured in Time as a GREAT AMERICAN NOVELIST; would the Guardian have called it the "Book of the Century"? Without detracting from Franzen, I think we can say it would not have received this trifecta of plaudits, largely because we don't ascribe literary authority as freely to women as men, and our models of literary greatness remain primarily male (and white). Of course, there are the always-pointed-out exceptions: Marilynne Robinson and Toni Morrison, whose Beloved topped the New York Times list of the best books of the past 25 years. So is there really a problem here? To continue reading, click here. Meghan O'Rourke, a former literary editor of Slate, is the author of The Long Goodbye, a memoir of grief, forthcoming in 2011, and the poetry collection Halflife. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Hitchens: How To Hold the Catholic Church Accountable for Its Crimes Watch Morgan Murphy and Other Hilarious Women Comics Perform in New York Can We Blame China for American Income Inequality?	Advertisement
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