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tigtog (aka Viv) is the founder of this blog. She lives in Sydney, Australia: husband, 2 kids, cat, house, garden, just enough wine-racks and (sigh) far too few bookshelves.

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3 responses to “Femmostroppo Reader – November 19, 2009”

  1. orlando

    Glad to read the article about men being given the literary awards, because the list of finalists for the Miles Franklin Award this year made me grind my teeth. Not only all men, but all white male established getting-on-a-bit authors who have already had all the regocnition they could possibly need. The judging was conservative, over-cautious and, above all, lazy.

  2. su

    Elaine Showalter was on the RN bookshow a month or so back talking about the exclusion of women from the literary greats lists. She made the interesting point that it seems to be getting worse. Back when people were first making lists of great American novels, Harriet Beecher Stowe was often at the top. She also had some really fascinating things to say about literary movements valorizing male writers versus the pathologizing of prolific or intensely intellectual female writers as odd loners.

    From Lizzie Skurnick’s article: “Our default is that women are small, men are universal.” That is a beautiful summary. I think it may also explain why certain of the books that make the greats list strike me as hollow, puffed with their own self-importance.

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