RARA-AVIS: Macdonald: another smoke screen

From: Marianne Macdonald ( marianne.macdonald@lineone.net)
Date: 01 Sep 2002


I've just sent a post to DorothyL, asking for recommendations. I'd be happy if some of you learned men on this list would like to make some suggestions. Though off-list, perhaps, since it's not really a Rara Avis thing. A shortened version of what I wrote there is this:

> I'm just home from the St Hilda's Mystery Conference in Oxford.
> Andrew Taylor was talking about the difficulties that he has in
> writing major female characters in his books, and the question came
> up whether either male or female writers can create convincing
> characters of the opposite sex. He gave a lot of examples of
> mistakes, or at least the wrong emphasis, that he finds in what
> women writers do with their male characters, which damages their
> credibility for him.

(He named Albert Campion as a Golden Age character whom he finds convincing, partly because enough is left to the reader's imagination to avoid many of the usual problems.)
...
> I believe I'd like to do a bit of reading and thinking about the
> topic.
> ...can you suggest a contemporary woman writer whom you personally
> think is creating good, believable male characters; and can you
> recommend some specific books, or characters, for me to think about?

I'd be glad if you lot have any suggestions, too.

Marianne

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