They say great themes make great novels. but what these young writers don't understand is that there is no greater theme than men and women.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I'm not an especially male novelist, but I think men are better at writing about men, and the same is true for women. Reading Saul Bellow is a revelation, but he can't write women. There are exceptions, like Marilynne Robinson's 'Gilead,' but generally, I think it's true.
Far more women read fiction than men, and because of this, novels have become marginalised as serious texts.
I think in general, novels by men tend to be taken more seriously than novels by women.
I wonder if novels work for women because they give us a safe place to talk about our ish.
What I like in novels that I read and enjoy is interplay of theme: the mystery of how we seem to be so separate as human beings.
Nobody is surprised that women writers accurately represent male characters over and over again, no doubt because everybody knows that women understand men much better than vice-versa.
As a male writer, women are always what men pursue, and their world is always a mystery. So I always tried to present as many views as possible on women's worlds.
I find women as writers and as characters are operating within narrow confines. They inherit a kind of ghetto of the soul. I'm trying to enlarge the spectrum.
Literary fiction is kept alive by women. Women read more fiction, period.
Themes only arise after a novel is written, and people begin to try to talk about it.