There and back again

Since posting "Novels are for girls", I have:
Gone shopping (one lingerie shop, two haberdasheries, one kitchen department)
Had my hair done*
Stocked up on oestrogen**
Packed my darling hubby's lunch box (he eats lunch at midnight; shift work will do that to you)
And washed the dishes. I still have a bunch of laundry and general cleaning to do, but I couldn't neglect my Dear Readers forever.

Obviously, I'm a girl***. Or possibly a gay man, but let's not indulge in ugly stereotypes. No, wait, let's - because that's what this is all about: the claim that women can't get out of the kitchen long enough to write interesting stories.

Quite honestly it's Yvonne Roberts' contribution I have a problem with. Jane Rogers makes some good points, but mostly I stand with AL Kennedy in the "oh give it a rest already" team. And yet, there she is writing about it; and here I am, blogging about it. Clearly we can't ignore the bloody stupid question:
Is Women's Writing Dull?

Might as well start with asking whether there is any general difference between men's and women's writing. Much as I'd like to say no, I have to admit, my shelves have always groaned under the weight of Fay Weldon, Barbara Trapido, Margaret Atwood and so forth; while I enjoy a number of male writers, I tend to get far less obsessive about them and don't seek out the entire oeuvre of, say, Gore Vidal or Iain Banks. I probably should; I honestly couldn't say why I don't; yet there it is. Like versus love. I'm a literary lesbian. (Of course what I'm reading right now is by a man - John Irving - but since it's The 158-pound Marriage, I was probably conned by the title, wouldn't you say? Relationships and body weight. Obviously it's chick lit. Obviously.)

So, to move on. Assume there is a difference. Assume that, as is so often stated, women write about domestic issues. What other kind are there? In fiction as in reality, you're dealing with individual characters, individual lives. It's at home that the big issues bite. Just as even trashy beach reads can have a historic sweep (think Gone With the Wind), even big historic themes tend to get written in terms of domestic minutiae (think, possibly, Ian McEwan's Saturday, though I haven't read it yet).

And let's not forget that there really are a lot of women writing, and they really do write about a wide variety of subjects, and if you haven't noticed, well, where have you been Ms Roberts? Let's see where you'd like women's writing to go: "Into the depths of science fiction, gothic horror, action thrillers". Wow. So it's into the genre ghetto. Sure that's what you want? Well, if you say so...

Okay, SF we can do. How about Ursula le Guin, Andre Norton (yes, she's a girl), Sheri Tepper (well, you haven't heard of her, but you're obviously not a sci-fi reader), even Margaret Atwood? Gothic horror - oh come on now. You're taking the piss. Women practically invented the genre. Mary Shelley, Ann Radcliffe, the Brontes, right through to Daphne du Maurier and Catherine Cookson. Etc. Etc. Action thrillers - well, you've got me there, I can't name one. Then again I can't name any male thriller writers either - not my thing - except Michael Crichton. Not exactly something to emulate, if you ask me.

What else did you want - ah, yes: "female characters who are thoroughly selfish, wicked and unpredictable not because they were sexually abused in childhood or married a bastard but because they are out for what they can get". Really, where have you been? Have you even read Weldon, or Atwood? I'm starting to get quite worried about your qualifications as a literary commentator.

I'm tempted to bang on about what women's novels really are or are not About, but there's no point, and besides, there's plenty of that in the Guardian piece. Let's move on to the only relevant issue: is it boring?

Well, if all you're reading is Aga sagas, maybe they are boring. Most of what's on the bestseller lists is boring. Not exactly representative of all of literature, though, is it? A random selection from the 3 for 2 table at McBooks is not going to rock your world. Making sweeping, snide comments based on such a selection is about as tacky as writing off the entire blogging world based on the first dozen random blogs you find****. A lot of blogs are pretty crappy; there's no quality control, but more importantly, as a stray passerby, you are probably not the target audience. Clicking "next blog" typically brings me to a succession of pages written primarily for the friends of the blogger***** - online conversations, with party photos, jokes and loads of comments. I may not be interested, but I really doubt the blogger cares.

Similarly, while there are plenty of novels by women that I'm not interested in - and plenty by men - I can generally tell that by the cover. It doesn't matter. The fact is, some people are. By definition, then, it's not boring; it's relevant to, and appreciated by, the target audience. Don't be snotty. And please, please don't keep talking about this, or I'll have to start asking rude questions about why men's writing is so aggressive, crude, and uninteresting.

It isn't, of course. But some is. I guess men just need to get out of the smelly depths of science fiction, horror and action thrillers, and back into the kitchen. Which, as we all know, is where the party happens.

_____
* Just a trim, but "done" sounds better.
** Yes, really.
*** Or maybe a Stepford Wife; I admit, putting it all together, I'm a little shocked.
**** And she segues not very smoothly into a completely different gripe...
***** Not entirely unlike this one.