Quote:
Originally Posted by FlorenceArt
Women writers are legion. Women writers who aspire to "serious" literature are probably still way fewer than men in the same field. There are other factors of course (some subjects are considered more feminine or masculine than others, independently of perceived literary value), but basically, I think it's still very hard for most people to envision anything a woman does, apart from raising a family, as "serious" or "important" stuff. Things are changing, of course and happily, but deep down there is still more prejudice than we'd like to believe.
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The women who write romance novels are the unsung heroines of the publishing industry. They keep the business afloat. Unfortunately, most of these women (often very talented writers) will never get the respect that they deserve. It isn't so much that the genre is limited -- there are scores of brilliantly written romance novels. Admittedly, even a century or two ago, romance novels were a bit of a joke (hence
Northanger Abbey). At that time, it was definitely because romance novels were read by women and were therefore inherently frivolous.
Today though, I think it's the marketing that does romance novels in. When your book is sold in the supermarket next to OK! magazine and bubblegum, you necessarily lose respectability. Of course, from a business perspective, selling the books this way is a brilliant move. It just detracts from the authors.