Maybe the days of Emily Dickinson writing innuendo poetry, whilst fulfilling the dutiful role of a spinster stay at home daughter, are over. But one must ask oneself does gender still play a role in contemporary writing? If we look at the chick lit genre one would have to say, “yes ... to a certain extent,” because it would be hard to imagine a man writing a Helen Fielding type of novel, how many copies would Dave Jones diary have sold? Not quite the same impact. Men and women are different. This is a biological and psychological fact. We think on a different level; women tend to focus more on feelings and emotions, men on what is said, what can be seen etc. Of course this can be a generalisation, after all do male writers not also get in touch with their feelings and emotions to write fully rounded characters of all ages and both sexes? The sign of a good writer I think is to disguise their sex. I do think it is possible for a man to write from a woman’s point of view, and be successful at it without being too cliché. Women too can write successfully from a male’s point of view, if we look at Harry Potter for example you would find it hard to say that it was written by a woman. Rowling captures the boy and adolescent Harry’s voice perfectly; from the way he talks to the way he thinks, to the little jealousies and rivalries that boys have which are based on a whole different emotional level to that of girls. One famous scene that sticks in mind is when Hermione explains the complexities of the female psyche to Harry and Ron only for the two guys to be shocked that, “One person could feel so many emotions at one time and not explode,” to which Hermione replies aghast, “We don’t all have the emotional range of a teaspoon!” And that I think sums up this blog post, gender does play a role in contemporary writing however it is up to the skill of the author to either disguise, or show their gender blatantly, to their advantage based on their desired audience.
Interesting idea. I often think you can tell whether something's been written by a man or a woman, but at the same time that bothers me, because I don't feel like I should be able to tell. That aside, I think Dave Jones's diary sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than Bridget's. Maybe you should give it a go, just to see how it turns out.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Lesley. Personally speaking, I can generally tell whether something's been written by a male or female, but that's only if you're consciously looking for give-aways. If you're really into a story and you think it's good, I think you're less likely to notice it. But, does it matter whether it's written by a man or woman?? As long as it's a good read, and the author can make the characters identifiable and interesting, I think the gender of the author is insignificant.
ReplyDeleteAlso, loving the HP quote. One of my all time favourites :)
Are women really more in touch with their emotions or are they socially conditioned to present themselves in an emotionally literate way in order to win approval? There is lots of evidence that girls are rewarded for displaying 'pleasing' behaviour whilst boys are rewarded for being 'clever' from a very young age. Does this translate to the way that men and women write in adulthood? As you say, we are dealing in huge generalisations here but it is an interesting debate.
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