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protodisco August 2 2009, 04:54:31 UTC
HST doesn't really fit in with those folks at all, really. So that's weird. Also, all those people kick ass. It's certainly better than the ol' never looking outside of Charles Bukowski crap. At least those people are intellectually stimulating. Also, Infinite Jest is the best book of the last 50 years. (Probably longer). (Humble opinion, of course).

That said; was one or two of those woman authors Cynthia Ozick or Amy Hempel? Because I could probably read them until I died.

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liveinthelayers August 2 2009, 05:13:04 UTC
Weren't you the one to tell me that fiction is still an old boys club?
I can appreciate all the authors I listed... but I can also see the need to read others. I would never say I've never been moved by a man/a woman/a trannie/whoevs. I dunno, I find it weird to encounter people who say women can't write or aren't worth reading, because I think anything human with hands can write something compelling.

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protodisco August 2 2009, 18:15:28 UTC
It's a loaded statement that "fiction is an old boys club" and should be revised for context. At the very least it should read "Literary fiction is an old boys club". Should be acknowledged that the top two selling authors in the world are both women - and that they're the top two selling authors in the world by a huge margin. Both them are more widely read and make more in a year than David Foster Wallace did in his very short lifetime (even with the MacArthur Fellowship).

I'd point the people who say women can't write in that direction. But I honestly doubt that people's insistence upon Pynchon, Wallace, Thompson and Adams has anything to do with sexism. I honestly didn't even know that that's what you were implying. And I can't think of any women who write like them (which is a comment on style, not quality). It's a real curious group to call out. I also don't think anyone who understands and enjoys a writer like wallace would think for a second to discount anything because of something as superficial as gender.

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liveinthelayers August 2 2009, 21:10:14 UTC
I honestly wasn't calling them out for sexism--I like my housemates.

But some of these readers are younger than me, and it blows my mind that someone would claim at 20 years old (or any age): I have found the Best Writers On Earth, and I can stop looking for new things to read. I HAS THE ANSWERS. Women authors, you say? I do not need such a thing.

OK, the conversation didn't really go down like that. But that's the vibe I'm getting. I just don't understand stagnation like that--I wish I could read a new author every day for the rest of my life. I just assume everyone is as restless sometimes.

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