I can't recall when, or if, I've read a book by a male author written in the female first person before. If I did it was an awful long time ago.
James M. Cain maybe isn't the first name that'd spring to mind to try such a thing either. Generally regarded as the third master of the classic American hard-boiled/noir novel, along with Hammett and Chandler, he's also the most controversial. Hugely popular in the late 30s and 40s, his books were also widely disliked, even by his contemporaries. Chandler wrote: "He is every kind of writer I detest... a Proust in greasy overalls, a dirty little boy with a piece of chalk and a board fence and nobody looking." Of course that's exactly why so many people liked him. His books don't flinch from adultery, sexuality, incest, depravity in general. There's no cosy in Cain.
The Cocktail Waitress, is his last novel, retrieved and published some forty-five years after his death. Unlike many posthumous works this one doesn't disappoint. Not as searing as The Postman Always Rings Twice, or Double Indemnity for sure, but probably still on his "best of" list. The protagonist is Joan Medford, the waitress of the title and Cain assumes her voice throughout. It generally sounds OK to me, but I really don't know (not being female.) A woman might argue that the unwanted attention of having her breasts kneaded (for example,) isn't something women are likely to write about themselves? OTOH it does kinda seem in character, but of course Cain created that character. I do know that it would be a brave/stupid male author to attempt something similar today.
So any other instances of assumption of gender/sex? As I said I can't think of any off the top of my head.
James M. Cain maybe isn't the first name that'd spring to mind to try such a thing either. Generally regarded as the third master of the classic American hard-boiled/noir novel, along with Hammett and Chandler, he's also the most controversial. Hugely popular in the late 30s and 40s, his books were also widely disliked, even by his contemporaries. Chandler wrote: "He is every kind of writer I detest... a Proust in greasy overalls, a dirty little boy with a piece of chalk and a board fence and nobody looking." Of course that's exactly why so many people liked him. His books don't flinch from adultery, sexuality, incest, depravity in general. There's no cosy in Cain.
The Cocktail Waitress, is his last novel, retrieved and published some forty-five years after his death. Unlike many posthumous works this one doesn't disappoint. Not as searing as The Postman Always Rings Twice, or Double Indemnity for sure, but probably still on his "best of" list. The protagonist is Joan Medford, the waitress of the title and Cain assumes her voice throughout. It generally sounds OK to me, but I really don't know (not being female.) A woman might argue that the unwanted attention of having her breasts kneaded (for example,) isn't something women are likely to write about themselves? OTOH it does kinda seem in character, but of course Cain created that character. I do know that it would be a brave/stupid male author to attempt something similar today.
So any other instances of assumption of gender/sex? As I said I can't think of any off the top of my head.
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