tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post8655240454185268106..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: Paula McLain, "The Paris Wife"Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-3305117587267412782021-04-12T14:27:05.187-04:002021-04-12T14:27:05.187-04:00@Katya
Yeah, some of that "what men and wome...@Katya<br /><br />Yeah, some of that "what men and women write" stuff is pretty stupid. Tough guy detective novelist Raymond Chandler always knew exactly what Philip Marlowe and everyone else were wearing, and told you about it, at length.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14456987412710878404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-44538031574817069272021-04-12T12:26:44.643-04:002021-04-12T12:26:44.643-04:00Ah, but that last comment is about calculating the...Ah, but that last comment is about calculating the book's *audience,* not a bet about who is capable, a man or woman, of writing such a book or its particular lines.<br /><br />I've heard lots of theories about men and women waiting, and what men and women write about. "Men don't waste a lot of space writing about clothing," and other such nonsense.<br /><br />Some of the most marvelous and memorable clothing descriptions come writers like Charles Dickens. How about Miss Havisham and her wedding dress?<br /><br />Men--all those mothers and babies they paint--evidently they are all referencing Mary, Jesus, and the infinite. Women who paint mothers and babies--that's genre work, dabbling in the domestic realm... <br /><br />--KatyaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-62888984541552085922021-04-12T12:13:30.205-04:002021-04-12T12:13:30.205-04:00On the third hand (heh), it has to be admitted tha...On the third hand (heh), it has to be admitted that, based on his review, there seems to be something in what John's saying. I can easily imagine a savvy publisher looking at John's precis and saying to themselves, "This book will sell to a largely female audience, and we can market it with that it mind." And they wouldn't be wrong.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14456987412710878404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-19439785177131954252021-04-12T10:06:38.053-04:002021-04-12T10:06:38.053-04:00Thinking about it, I can imagine a man writing tha...Thinking about it, I can imagine a man writing that possession line with either a friendly or unfriendly bent. It could be unfriendly, because it sounds narcissistic--"me, me, me, with them in orbit!" But I can easily imagine the spin being more in the direction of a solemn internal commitment: "these things are mine, and I'm now responsible for them" (for better or worse, etc.). Indeed, one could imagine a third writer--or the same writer in another mood--then showing the woman discovering that that solemn and virtuous commitment is really a prison. Etc., etc.<br /><br />The possibilities are endless.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14456987412710878404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-21880306595389374522021-04-12T09:46:03.460-04:002021-04-12T09:46:03.460-04:00I agree with Katya. A man could write "Paris...I agree with Katya. A man could write "Paris Wife," but the spin or edge would (likely) be different. This would be especially true of that internal voice or monologue.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14456987412710878404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-25278383593913304332021-04-12T08:47:01.361-04:002021-04-12T08:47:01.361-04:00One day I'm going to wake up and America will ...One day I'm going to wake up and America will be over Hemingway. That's the day I buy a bottle of whiskey and party.Shadowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05353532874773316117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-86748773228335766342021-04-12T08:07:24.389-04:002021-04-12T08:07:24.389-04:00Hmm. You make me want to read the book, if only to...Hmm. You make me want to read the book, if only to refute your generalizations about male and female authors.<br /><br />I can *easily* imagine a male writer writing that possession line. But the intended portrayal of the feminine would be an unfriendly one.<br /><br />Isn't the whole excitement of Molly Bloom concluding Ulysses a celebration of a man capturing the (but really *a*) female voice? <br /><br />--Katya Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com