Posted by Sterling on 26/8/2011, 14:21:37, in reply to "Re: novel 100"
65.15.157.74
Most masculine book I love? Moby Dick? Dog Soldiers? (Really anything by Robert Stone.) I can't say that I exactly love Blood Meridian, but I admire it very much. Highly masculine, I'd say.
But what makes a book masculine? That's the question, and it's a loaded one. I feel almost as hesitant to say that a book might be more appreciated by women than men as I would to say a book might be more appreciated by black people than white people.
It's a reasonable assumption that books that feature people more like ourselves are at least an easier sell. (Sometimes when I suggest a DVD we might watch my wife will ask me if there are any women in it. Which is not to say that she does not enjoy some movies that feature only men. She has an unaccountable fondness for prison break movies, especially if they're true.)
I do think the gender split exists. The most extreme example I can think of is romance novels. I don't know any man who would be caught dead reaing one. Men will read books that are romantic (especially if they don't have those hideous Fabio-style covers), but it helps if they're established classics -- Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, even Gone With the Wind. (Jane Austen is in a different category, I think.)
Although I know a few women who read science fiction, I would say that it remains a largely masculine genre. (Although there are far more science fiction and fantasy books aimed at women than romance novels aimed at men.)
In literary fiction, I truly don't care about the gender of the author. Often, you can't tell. Wittgenstein's Mistress has exactly one character -- a woman. On the other hand, I don't think a man would have written Housekeeping, but that doesn't mean I didn't love it.
--Previous Message--
:
: I doubt Burt really believes in his list as a whole. I
: doubt he esteems Gone With the Wind so much. The
: farther down the list you go, the more questionable
: inclusions are. There are still many that probably
: belong. Like Steven, I've never heard of Cities of
: Salt outside of this list. I do plan to read it
: though.
:
: I prefer lists to rankings. I don't know how you
: decide between War and Peace and Don Quixote. I guess
: that seems to me like a matter of taste. I think it is
: less a matter of taste to say they are first rate or
: second rate. I've probably said before that what I
: would really like to see is a list of all first rate
: books, and then all second rate ones, and probably
: even third.
:
: I agree that best or greatest and most important can
: be different even if we mean by most important, most
: influential within the realm of literature.
:
: I also agree that Treasure Island rather than Jeckyl
: and Hyde is a strange inclusion. I happen to have
: reread Treasure Island a few months ago. I had read it
: when I was ten, my first 'classic', I guess.
:
: The lists for men and women are kind of interesting.
: Do you buy into the difference? I suppose it would be
: silly to dismiss it completely, but I would rather
: read Jane Austen than anything, and I love Wuthering
: Heights. What's the most masculine book I love? I
: love, or at least did for a while, Tropic of Cancer
: and Tropic of Capricorn. I like Catch-22 very much.
:
:
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