"Chick Lit" vs The New York Times

[tzikeh]

I don't often link to HuffPo anymore, but this is worth it.

With the publication of Jonathan Franzen's fourth novel, Freedom, which was extensively covered in the New York Times while Franzen himself appeared on the cover of TIME magazine, a controversy broke out online over whether Franzen's star treatment was indicative of the literary establishment's alleged shoddy treatment of commercial writers, in particular writers of what is commonly referred to as 'women's fiction.' Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult, both #1 New York Times bestselling authors, found themselves in the middle of the fray....

Why do you feel that commercial fiction, or more specifically popular fiction written by women, tends to be critically overlooked?

Jennifer Weiner: I think it's a very old and deep-seated double standard that holds that when a man writes about family and feelings, it's literature with a capital L, but when a woman considers the same topics, it's romance, or a beach book - in short, it's something unworthy of a serious critic's attention.

That's just the beginning; it's an interesting interview, and has a lot of links to related articles and interviews.

(Yes, the icon is both ironic and meta-ironic)

Comments

[touchthesky.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you're on Twitter or follow Jen Weiner on twitter but she's seriously been going on about it A LOT.

I'm on the fence about the whole situation. I do agree that women's literature is overlooked in some ways, but I do feel it's a much larger genre with a greater volume of writers. Male authored fiction seems a little more limited, espescially in the sense of feelings-based writing. So to that end, I feel like there's less competition in that market. It's in no way fair, but that's how it's seeming to work at the moment.

[vass]

(Yes, the icon is both ironic and meta-ironic)

Much like the book itself.