(no subject)

[oyceter]

Well, the boy is off doing a scavenger hunt type thing for the gsb, so I am all by myself. It's kind of odd. Things that passed through my head today at work:

- I wonder if the whole bit on looking down at romance novels is because it's women's fiction? Not that I think people are consciously doing it, but there's been a steady trend of that in the past. I had a course on American Popular Lit. and it was amusing how up in arms everyone was getting about women reading scandalous books! So of course all the books they were reading were denigrated as trashy (I was always mad that Jo gave up writing her potboilers for Bauer). And I wonder if that's kind of carried on? I mean, Romeo and Juliet, giant romance, as were tons of the operas, but romance novels are supposedly a different thing. Is this because of the cultural propensity to think tragic endings are somehow "better"? Is it the women's fiction thing? Also, why is it that even though critics denigrate feel-good chick flicks and stupid action movies, I get the feeling that going out to watch a chick flick is somehow a much worse or sillier thing than going to watch cars blow up?

- How can a mass market paperback on the evils of life insurance go online for 100 some dollars?!

- Who is it buying and reading all the books I'm processing anyway? Seriously, I love the researching part more than shelving because things come in batches -- I'll be going through a batch of books like Gospel Parallels, New Testament Concurrences, Greek-English dictionaries of the NT, and I wonder, does the person read these for fun? Was s/he a Bible scholar? Why sell them? Was it for a class? Then there are streaks of books on art or crochet or quilting (those were fun to flip through).

- How can there be so many books in the world? I walk into a normal new bookstore and there are tons and tons of books I want to read, or at least flip through. Then I go to work, and I find that's just the tip of the iceberg! I go through soooo many books that are out of print, and it's just overwhelming how much there is!

- California sky (or at least South Bay) is giant. I eat outside everyday because I get really cold from the aircon, and it's nice after being inside for forever to be able to go see green things and feel the sun on my face. I love sitting outside in the park and looking at the pine trees and reading my book and letting the sun bake my skin so I feel like I'm soaking up all the warmth that was never really there in Princeton. Because while indoor heating is nice, there's just something about the dry heat here from the sun that makes me feel good and settled and real. Must remember to get sunblock too so baking doesn't turn into burning into a delicate, painful red. Back to sky... I look up and it just seems to stretch out forever, this giant expanse of blue against the trees and the buildings. Sometimes there are a few white clouds to accent the blueness, very rarely enough so that there's no sun. I think something about the flatness of the land and the buildings makes it feel like a giant upturned bowl.

Comments

[dherblay.livejournal.com]

New Testament Concordances, parallel Gospels, Greek-English dictionaries: my mother owns all of those. And, if I recall correctly, her next door neighbor and seminary classmate owns a house in Mountain View. (Not that I'm looking for that much of a coincidence, but I think the Presbyterian Church is the only church which requires reading knowledge of both Greek and Hebrew for ordination, so let me know if you come across a bookplate with the name "Janet" on it.)

[oyceter]

Nifty! It was especially fun to see them because I'd just taken a class last year for origins of the NT. And will let you know ;).

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

Is it the women's fiction thing?

Yeah, I think that's probably a lot of it. You don't get the same kind of dismissive response to, say, series based on the adventures of a Green Beret or whatever, despite the fact that that's not Literature.

[oyceter]

Seriously. I was wondering about that and fandom too, seeing how a great deal of fandom is female now. But then, there's also the scary fanboy stereotype. Honestly though, how are my romance novels somehow more scoffworthy than the latest John Grisham or Michael Crichton? I always feel it's kind of like the distinction between scifi (which is earning respect as edgy and etc) and fantasy (which of course is backwards and nostalgic and can't possibly address current issues). Course, that one doesn't so much have to do with the gender issue, given the preponderence of males in both.

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

Thinking about this some more, I think it may partly be that you get it from both directions. Not only are most things that are stereotypically male valued more highly than things that are stereotypically female, you get women specifically rejecting something that's seen as feminine in a bad way. "Oh no, I don't like romances, I'm not one of those women." Whereas you're not going to see men trying to gain status by rejecting Michael Crichton. (Signs you're fannish: I almost typed "John Crichton" there...)

[oyceter]

*giggles* John Crichton, Michael Crichton... ;).

I kind of used to be one of those women, but I gave up after finding I really did like romances and wearing pretty clothes and cooking. Not so much cleaning house though. I'm always surprised by how many people vehemently deny that they liked playing with Barbie as a kid. I loved Barbie. I had tons of them. I made up giant stories with them.

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

I think fantasy is seen more as a genre that's directed at women, though, and SF as one that's directed at men.

[onetwomany.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about the women's fic issue all day today, and I think I'll make a big ol' post on it. But, yes, I do think the disdain for romances comes from the fact they're made for women - they're not regarded as proper literature for the same reasons that embroidery and quilting are not 'proper art'. A legacy of the whole public/domestic & private sphere distinctio, I guess, and one which lingers even into this day and age (and which, I admit, I often unconsciously abet).

[oyceter]

Sweet! Look forward to reading the post! And yeah, I never quite thought about quilting and cross-stitch in quite that direction, although I swear, after looking at all those quilting books, they are really something. And I would promote this, given my occasional cross-stitching tendencies.

To digress a bit -- it's this great giant thing to be a chef and open a restaurant in New York (and of course all the great chefs I've heard of are male), but cooking in your own kitchen? God forbid. And of course somehow barbequeing is better than meatloaf, to carry on with cooking.

Sadly, I feel that the advent of men into the kitchen and nursing and teaching and traditionally female occupations are the only things making them "proper," while wherever the women are going will somehow be subtly looked down upon.

[ebonbird.livejournal.com]

...wherever the women are going will somehow be subtly looked down upon

Maybe it's because these things aren't particularly looked up at by men. Medicine, for example, is losing it's cache as physician's renumeration decreases. There are more women than ever in US medical schools, and if I recally correctly, women outnumber men in medical schools. I'm not exactly sure why, but it seems to me that, in general, if it's something that men dominate then it is considered of valor.

I think the domestic v public sphere is as good a place to begin examining the question as any.