Hi, I'm Douglas W. Jacobson, author of
Night of Flames, and I've always been intrigued by the challenge for male authors in creating female characters. This issue became a reality for me when I began writing Night of Flames. Anna Kopernik, a university professor in Krakow at the outbreak of the war, started out in my mind as a rather bit player. Slowly, as the story unfolded, she grew into the main character, and I have to admit, bringing her to life was the most fun I had writing the book.
Other male authors I admire have created some memorable female characters such as Herman Wouk's, Natalie in
Winds of War, Charles Frazier's, Ruby in
Cold Mountain, and Ken Follet's, Caris in
World Without End.
Who are some of your favorites?
Message edited by its author, Nov 18, 2008, 6:39pm.
John Fowles' Sarah Woodruff from
The French Lieutenant's Woman. She is one complex gal. The grandmother in Proust's
In Search of Lost Time, which I'm currently reading, is fast becoming one of my literary heroes. (And I know, I know what's coming. I'm prepared. *sob*) Also David Foster Wallace's Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman, from
The Broom of the System. She is practically a carbon copy of a longtime real-life friend of mine. To borrow from the Bombardini restaurant scene, she has "spunk."
Hmm. Really struggling to find a favourite female character in Dickens - they tend to be either saintly or grotesque. I think I'm going to have to go for something a bit more recent - the formidable Granny Weatherwax from Terry Pratchett's Discworld books.
#3 Yes! I bet we could make a really long list of bad ones. How about any female drawn by
Ernest Hemingway.
Nelson DeMille's Kate Mayfield from the novels, The Lion's Game, Night Fall and Wildfire. I being a woman tend to enjoy women authors more than men because let's face it we think differently, but I find Mr. DeMille creates women who are strong and sensitive at the same time while not being afraid to be feminine. I also enjoy his writing style because I can actually picture the scenes in my head while I'm reading.
Great responses. If any of you want to know more about how I went about creating Anna in
Night of Flames or have feedback if you've read the book, I'm currently participating in the Library Thing "Author Chat".
Doug Jacobson
Alexander McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe in his
The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series and Isabel Dalhousie in his
The Sunday Philosophy Club Series.
He seems to have a real talent in portraying the female mind and his heroines are remarakably entertaining, interesting, and substantive. The series are certainly not classic literature but fun and definitely addictive.
Some of the most persuasive and familiar (imperfect, complex, well-intended but messy) female characters I have encountered were written by Peter Dickinson in his mysteries and fantasies.
Angie Gennaro as written by Dennis Lehane is pretty decently done. She's not easily labeled and she holds her own with Patrick, her parnter in so many senses of the word. At one point during the books he has her dealing with abuse from her spouse and it is not a cut and dried affair; he imbues the situation with complexity and sensitivity that I thought held up to the real world.
This message has been deleted by its author.
I remember being in love with Fuschia in Mervyn Peake's
Gormenghast Trilogy when I was in high school. More recently, I was quite taken with the narrator protagonist of
Norman Rush's
Mating (and many of my women friends have been similarly smitten).
@14 - Just shows to go you. I quit reading Mating two or three chapters in because I found Rush's lead character completely unconvincing. Guy with tits on.
I quite liked Bathsheba from
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy..
Hmm..don't exactly know why..but I like Louisa Gradgrind (or Bounderby..whatever you might like to call her) from Charles Dickens'
Hard Times and of course, along with Sissy Jupe..
Thursday Next
Madam Bovary
I agree with #8 re Alexander Smith. One thing that male authors never seem to get right, at least not for me, is female friendships. Smith does a pretty good job with that.
Conversely, I enjoy Tom Robbins, but, to me, the interaction of his female characters does not feel authentic.
Paula Spencer from
The woman who walked into doors by
Roddy Doyle. I've never read a more convincing female character created by a man. Not one voice, not one point of view, but mixed and mingled as my mind can be. Wonderful, despite the terrible situation she is in.
Funny to see Thursday Next and Isabel Dalhousie on this list. I found them both very unconvincing, as characters and as women.
My book group read
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini this past summer, and I think all the women in the group, myself included, were very impressed with Hosseini's handling of the two main characters, both female, and of the way he developed their friendship (in follow-up to MrsHeisenberg's comment in # 19). Part of our discussion was about Hosseini's wish to "get it right," to successfully present the story from these female viewpoints, and the work he did to get these results. I really enjoyed
The Kite Runner, but I found Splendid Suns an even greater achievement, in part because of how Hosseini fleshed out his female central characters.
(back to top)
