As for chick-lit, sure there is some that is dreck, but I think the term is used to dismiss a lot of literature just because it is written by, for or about women. Marian Keyes is considered Chick Lit, but I think she’s great… She writes about all sorts of issues, professional, relationships, drug abuse, etc… It’s not all about shopping, marriage, blah, blah, blah. Sure, there is some of that in there, but that’s because that is all part of life. But it is labeled Chick Lit so the important critics, i.e. men, can ignore or mock it and belittle women’s issues and concerns by labeling it as inconsequential fluff and I think it’s an insidious term because it even makes women feel like they have to agree with them to be taken seriously. Yeah, Sophie Kinsella is formulaic, but sadly I get a vicarious emotional kick reading some of her books. So, in summary, if women authors have to have cutesy pink covers to get published, blame the publishers and the industry and not the authors. Don’t punish them for doing what they have to do to get their books out. FIGHT THE LITERARY PATRIARCHY, DAMMIT!

Sorry!

(I’m not offended, but I am curious what you mean!)

I agree with you, PS, I do think ‘women’s writing’ is worth something.

And…can I just say that I don’t think the idea of ecriture feminine should just be pooh-poohed like that. Cixous did say that men could write ecriture feminine (and gave Genet as an example of someone who had), I don’t think it was ever intended to be exclusively by or for women, it was just a different mode of writing which captured women’s experiences better. And although there was undoubtedly some bad 70s French feminist writing, there was a lot of good stuff that drew on these ideas (Cixous herself, Duras…)

I’ll read either women or men if the book is good. But I’ll admit that I don’t think going back and putting women ‘back into’ the canon wasn’t a bad thing (George Sand!), a lot of them had been popular at first and forgotten because they were women.

There was a story about a mother-daughter pair of writers in 19th century France I read once, I can’t remember where, sorry! But they were praised by contemporaries because you never saw an inkstain on their fingers, they kept their writing private. Awful, huh? We have come a long way.

Favorite term coined in one of my lit classes in college, to describe “All the Pretty Horses:” cowbohemian.

I always think of the whole “ZOMG why are women reading chick lit when they could be reading Virginia Woolf?” to be reductionist to the point of ridiculousness. The two are not mutually exclusive. Like many readers, I read Sophie Kinsella because there are times I like light entertainment. When I want serious beautiful literature, I read Marilynne Robinson. The key is I READ BOTH, the same way I eat at dive-y shacks on the beach and at temples of haute cuisine.

And I’m totally with emilyanne–Toni Morrison is overrated. She’s one of those writers who has done a couple of spectacular books, but also a bunch of mediocre ones. Also, she’s is not pleasant in person.