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Hello, I'm Ron Charles. You may know me as the fiction critic for a major diversified
media organization.
Recently, there's been a lot of women gossiping about how their little books are treated in
the important newspapers and magazines.
Dawn: Their "little" books?
What?
"Women gossiping about how their little books are treated"?
No, I said, "talking about how little their books are treated."
No, you didn't.
Yes, I did.
No, you didn't.
Come on, Shutterbabe, try to calm down...
Like most book section editors, I've taken this criticism to heart. And I have to say,
I'm a little disappointed: You're really being very unladylike.
A new study by Vidal has cause a bit of a stir among the literati. They counted up all
the reviews of books by important writers and compared that to all the reviews of books
by women.
From one narrow point of view, the stats do look pretty lopsided. So, how should we respond?
Well, first of all: We're just so proud of you publishing your chick lit and your
romance fiction. Honestly, I think it's adorable.
Secondly, I wouldn't take it too seriously: You know how it is with girls and math!
The important thing is that we just keep reviewing the "quality" books and not get distracted
by all this divisive gender-counting, quota-stuff.
Because that could lead to real change.
Or maybe, like we do with poetry, we could give them a special month, and then review
all their little books then.
Ron, this is ridiculous!
What?
Every year VIDA does this study, and it shows the same thing: All you book guys systematically
under-represent books by women.
Oh, really? Well, it just so happens I used to teach a course in feminist criticism that
used Elaine Showalter's foundational essay, "Toward a Feminist Poetics." So I think
my insights into women's literature have a great deal of validity.
Oh, do ya? Well, that's funny, because I happen to have Dr. Elaine Showalter right here.
Elaine Showalter: I heard what you were saying. You know nothing of my work! How you got to teach a course
in anything is totally amazing.
Whatever....
When Jonathan Franzen writes a big novel about relationships and marriage, it's "revelatory
book" about "The Way We Live Now." When Meg Wolitzer does it, it's a "woman's
book."
Meg Wolitzer: Hmmm. That's interesting.
I'm sorry, what were you saying?
This week, I decided to see what all the fuss was about, so I read a lady's book called
"The Woman Upstairs," by Mrs. James Wood.
It's about a third grade teacher named Nora, a maiden lady in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
She's really unhappy -- probably because she's not married. But then she befriends
the mother of one of her students. This mom is from Paris, and she's very glamorous
and an up-and-coming installation artist.
Before you know it, these two women are fast friends. They rent a studio together, and
the narrator's life just blossoms. While her friend works on his huge installation
piece called Wonderland, Nora starts making this little miniature version of Emily Dickinson's
bedroom.
"I'm nobody. Who are you?"
Nora gets totally obsessed with her new friend and her friend's husband and their little
boy, and soon she's insinuating herself into their family. It's pretty creepy.
It's also undeniably smart and unsettling, but what do you expect from a lady-writer
married to the New Yorker's brilliant literary critic, James Wood?
It's just kind of a shame that it's so shrill and bitter.
And for a woman's novel, I was surprised it didn't have more recipes in it.
Of course, it's hard for someone like me in an Alpha-Male profession like summarizing
the plots of literary novels to understand what these ladies are talking about.
The important thing is that we keep pretending to listen.
Who's that?
Lionel Shriver.
I hear he's really good.