Hello Gentle Reader
Well last week I had reported to you – reported, aren’t I just hilarious sometimes. If you’re not laughing well I do not recall caring because, I am making myself laugh. Oh yeah! Anyhow last week on this blog I had informed you – I am certainly stretching the line here; that Philip Roth had won the biannual Man Booker International Prize of 2011. Last weekend I had learned of the fact that a judge of this year’s Man Booker International Prize had actually resigned over him winning. Carmen Callil – a feminist; as all the newspapers are pointing out with a fierce use of trying to use the world as insulting – though it partly is quite insulting; had resigned in protest of Philip Roth winning the prize.
Carmen Callil stated quite frankly about Philip Roth:
‘“He goes on and on and on about the same subject in almost every single book. It's as though he's sitting on your face and you can't breathe”’.
I cannot say if this is true or not, for the fact that I have not read his work. However, it certainly does come clear, that as a woman and a feminist that Carmen Callil was not impressed with the way that Philip Roth had presented woman in his fiction. In fact Philip Roth had/has/is criticized (by feminists) for his portrayal of woman in his work. Then again Philip Roth had stated that he is writing primarily for men. Just like woman write primarily for woman from the sounds of it. Which is why I sometimes had issues relating to woman writers, because the problems or their poorly sketched male characters cease to enthral me and bore me half to death, and their complex woman characters I find are somewhat in a way sexist in their complexities over the “less complex,” nature of men.
So is Carmen Callil the feminist – in my own way a way of stating: angry woman; right when she says that Philip Roth does not deserve the prize? Could her own feelings towards Philip Roth primarily writing for men, leave her with a feeling that her own sex/gender is left as a less complex shallow piece of meat? Or is Philip Roth right with his portrayal of woman in his fiction, just as Elfriede Jelinek the Nobel Laureate of Literature of 2004 (a author I do not plan on reading!) is a feminist who writes shall we say primarily for woman. She obviously see’s the woman as a patriarchal society, and seems to despise men to a degree – I think she’s married. Anyhow, it appears that the resignation over the prize of the judge over Philip Roth winning was more of a resignation on the part of gender inequality in his work, and her feminist ideologies then necessarily about his work.
Don’t take my word for it though Gentle Reader I am as biased as any newspaper! The only difference is I am free and can swear, and I am a pompous asshole!
Anyhow it’s that time of month again when we do the “Short Story Review,” this time its Number II (2) and I hope you all enjoy it! It will be posted tomorrow Thursday May 26 2011 – unless something happens to my computer in which I can’t post it.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
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