But in the last week the Orange Prize for Fiction has grabbed my attention. First of all it causes a stir by being offered only to women. Sexism!, some cry, That war is over and the debt has been paid. There is a fantastic discussion at Dan Powell's blog about whether fiction awards that specify gender are really necessary.
And second, this year the prize has brought attention to an abundance of misery in women's fiction. Daisy Goodwin is one of the judges who read over one hundred possible books and narrowed the Orange Prize list down to 20. In an article in The Independent she said she felt like a social worker after reading all the books. And:
“There was very little wit, and no jokes. If I read another sensitive account of a woman coming to terms with bereavement, I was going to slit my wrists.
“The misery memoir has transformed into misery literature.”
I hear her. I recently read a critically acclaimed book that was misery from start to finish. It was very well written but there was no let-up from despair. I was bewildered by this novel and why it was acclaimed. I wondered, who would want to read (or write) a book that was so devoid of hope?
In The Guardian Jean Hannah Edelstein suggests that the criticism should not be directed at female authors but at publishers, who market women's fiction containing humour or joy with bright pink covers and would never put it forth for a literary award. And on her Twitter feed Daisy Goodwin said "He gets it" in reference to William's Skidelsky's article that says all fiction lately has become stuck into the idea that it has to favour the dark to be taken seriously. I understand this too, having just witnessed several YA booklists chosen for London schools and libraries. They're all Young Adult and yet the misery within the pages would be enough (particularly if read en masse) to depress the sturdiest adult. Skidelsky also says that the imbalance is more noticeable in women's fiction-- similar to what Edelstein said-- "because of the pronounced divide in women's fiction between frothy, commercial 'chicklit' and more serious, 'literary' work."
I like these issues rising to the surface. I want to know that when I write a book I can concentrate on the story and not the need to bend it towards a falsely miserable market, or towards light and fluffy fun. My favourite protagonists balance light and dark like real human being, whether they're female or male, written by a man or a woman.
So far I've only read one book from the Orange long list: Sarah Water's The Little Stranger, which was more haunting than miserable. I'm currently reading The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton, about a serious topic revealed with such accuracy and cunning that it ends up very funny. And next in my pile is The Twisted Heart by Rebecca Gowers, a historical murder mystery with a modern love story. So, well done to the readers who narrowed down the list. Hopefully the winner will be light and shade enough to satisfy all the critics.
Trophies by Kinho Pizzato on flickr
You touched on so many important things in this post--things so close to my own writing/reading heart.
ReplyDeleteWhile I mourn (heh, couldn't resist) the imbalance in women's lit (misery = deep/"happy" = silly cow), I find it absolutely HORRIFIC as a trend in YA writing.
I've heard so many school age students, including my daughter, lament the incredibly depressing fare that they're supposed to learn from. It does make me wonder what the lesson is supposed to be. That life is hard and then you die? If that's the case, why the hell not party 'til you puke day after day, really? At least that's "fun."
And the "light" stuff is sooo light as to be, well, pointless and equally false.
"My favourite protagonists balance light and dark like real human being, whether they're female or male, written by a man or a woman."
Hear, hear--and really, _that's_ realistic writing actually portraying reality.
I really, in case you didn't catch it ;-), appreciated your insights in this post.
One thing that strikes me is how strong women's writing is at the moment. Now, more than any other time in my reading life, women feature on my list of favourite writer's. It is in the light of this that I wrote my post. Looking at the negative and often shocking way women's writing is treated it would appear I was mistaken to believe that the rest of the world saw women as creators of meaningful and often truly superb literature.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of balancing the light and dark. Making women's literature oppressive and joyless is not the solution needed to ensure women are taken seriously in the literary world. As you say, the fiction should, whether written by a man or a woman, reflect the dark and the light of the world around us to be truly representative of it.
hmm...great post, Jen. I am sitting staring at my computer wondering, is my novel morbid? I have decided no. phew :)
ReplyDeleteThe recent YA books I have read freaked me - I could not imagine a young kid reading books with these issues. But, I think they take it all in differently. I heard the writer of Coraline say that adults are horrified and children see a mountain to overcome.
And at the same time (prompted by Jennifer's worry! :)), we can't censor ourselves because women's lit is "too dark" these days--we need to write the stories we need to write.
ReplyDeleteEv, does your daughter read the books anyway or does she strike out and find less miserable stories?
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in Jennifer's point-- that supposedly young adults see a mountain to climb. That's a fascinating perspective, and if it's true then I wonder when it's lost. Sometime in our 20s, perhaps?
We definitely should not worry about the stories we write. Unless we've falsely pushed misery into the plot, it's told the way it should be, prize or no.
Dan, thanks very much for your earlier post about the need (or not) for gender-based prizes. From the reaction and other people's posts it's definitely started us thinking.
ReplyDeleteI'd noticed lately, too, how many of my favourite authors are women. And I had noticed many years ago that they were all men. I don't know if it's a change in me or the market but I understand why you would have figured the issues had changed. I really wish you'd been right.
My daughter reads voraciously and loves sad, dark books, because sorrow and darkness are a big part of life and she, like me, has questions about those kinds of things.
ReplyDeleteHer complaint was more about mandated reading--that sometimes you're not in the mood for something depressing and as a student, you don't have a choice. She doesn't care--she reads enough that she just picks up a Gossip Girl to lighten things up after a heavy read, if she feels the need, but some of her friends mostly only read assigned books and there have been times when the must read was not good for them.
And re: the kids see a mountain. I think that's true only to a point--some kids see a mountain, as in a challenge to climb and get over, yes. Others see a mountain and think, There's a mountain and I'll never get over it. Still others are like, Hey, I've seen that that same mountain the MC survived going over it, does that mean I can too? I probably can . . .
Kid readers are just like adult readers. They bring themselves to a story and each one won't be for every person . . . More and more in schools, instead of one mandated class novels, there's a move to "literature circles" where there are an assortment of books to choose from, giving kids power to read at a level (language and content-wise) that they feel stimulated at but not overwhelmed by.
As a parent and as someone who works a lot with young people, I really like the change and hope it only grows in popularity. It makes novel studies in a classroom way more enriching to _each_ student and encourages thoughtfulness rather than causing frustration and a feeling of powerlessness:"I have to read this stupid thing."
One thing this post made me curious about . . . I've heard this complaint about women writers being overwhelmingly "negative" before, and in the context of the Orange Award, the judge's comment makes sense, but I wonder . . . if it was a mixed gender contest, wouldn't a lot of the male authors submit dark tomes, too?
ReplyDeleteEven in the small amount of judging I've done, the representation of dark is heavier than light . . . Why have I not heard similar complaints about submissions in from mixed gender contests? Does culture accept that there will be dark writing from males more easily? Or is there really a significant difference in the _types_ of stories men and women tell?
The divide between serious writing by women and chick-lit is a real problem and I've been wringing with it since it came to my attention in the last couple of weeks.
ReplyDeleteHow limiting is this? It really devalues the Orange Prize but forgetting all these great books that have just been dismissed.
Jen, I have to weigh in on the depressing fare in YA literature. I do a lot of freelance copyediting an proofreading in this genre. Between the peer pressure, drug addicts, suicides, and mental problems, I find myself relieved when I get a nice middle-grade funny book to read. My high-school daughter, like Ev's, is always on the lookout for something a bit lighter, but not insipid. Wide-open niche, writers! Fill it!
ReplyDeleteClaire, I hope I have a place in that niche! I try to balance my characters with enough humour and enough darkness to make them interesting.
ReplyDeleteHey, maybe that's something aspiring authors should keep in mind: mentioning that balance in their query letters, and letting editors/agents/publishers know what we want as well as what we have to give.
Ev, you wondered if there was a significant difference between the types of stories men and women have to tell. I wonder, too. There definitely seems to be a big difference between the types of stories many men and women like to read, the types of games they enjoy, etc. An overlap, but also a difference.
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