5 Comments

I’ve never thought of comparing contemporary novels by women as being thematically similar to the novels of men ago, but now I totally see it. Thanks for this perspective. Somehow it makes me feel better. Maybe we are all in this together.

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It’s nice to read an article that doesn’t read like something insta-composed while the author was sitting in gender studies class.

Beneath the honest critique of Updike (et al), the terrible views, a dishonest critique often lurks (though not here): there’s no way I’ll ever write so fluidly, so i’ll ignore that aspect and recycle fashionable tropes.

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I remember loving Man Without Qualities, though I have to confess at the remove of years I cannot remember much about the actual story, other than the general atmosphere of creative decay that pervades all novels written on or about fin de siecle Vienna

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There isn't much of a plot, really, just situations and ideas. The "ideas" passages are actually much more interesting than the novelistic ones, to me.

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Read that book eons ago. Great piece. Thanks for the reminder.

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