This perception seems far too easily biased by knowing the gender of the author. Does anyone know of blinded studies on determining the gender of an author based on how they write male vs. female characters? Lacking any hard evidence I am extremely skeptical of the effect being all that large.
A few notable female science fiction/fantasy authors wrote under male or gender-neutral names. There may be data that could be found from reactions to their work, but I wouldn’t know where to start looking.
Look up James Tiptree Jr. (the pseudonym used by sf writer Alice Sheldon) for a great example of a female sf author who “passed” not only as male, but as manly (in the opinion of many men who read her work) until her true identity was revealed.
Authors whose work reveals a deep enough understanding of their characters that you would say of them, “This goes beyond what I thought a man (woman) could understand of women (men)” are terribly exceeding rare. I’m not sure who the male conjugate of Jacqueline Carey might be.
At the risk of replying too late for any of the original interested parties to take notice, I’ve found the female characters in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series to be particularly compelling.
I confess that I’ve never looked at the question in terms of an author displaying exceptional understanding of the opposite sex, but rather their ability to express insight into other people who are distinctly not them, but Martin’s gotten rather high praise for his female (and male) characters from many sources, so perhaps some of them were looking at the issue in this light.
This perception seems far too easily biased by knowing the gender of the author. Does anyone know of blinded studies on determining the gender of an author based on how they write male vs. female characters? Lacking any hard evidence I am extremely skeptical of the effect being all that large.
A few notable female science fiction/fantasy authors wrote under male or gender-neutral names. There may be data that could be found from reactions to their work, but I wouldn’t know where to start looking.
Look up James Tiptree Jr. (the pseudonym used by sf writer Alice Sheldon) for a great example of a female sf author who “passed” not only as male, but as manly (in the opinion of many men who read her work) until her true identity was revealed.
I read a book by Tiptree and did not identify it as female, but neither did it give me any particular impression of manliness. Good data point though.
Authors whose work reveals a deep enough understanding of their characters that you would say of them, “This goes beyond what I thought a man (woman) could understand of women (men)” are terribly exceeding rare. I’m not sure who the male conjugate of Jacqueline Carey might be.
At the risk of replying too late for any of the original interested parties to take notice, I’ve found the female characters in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series to be particularly compelling.
I confess that I’ve never looked at the question in terms of an author displaying exceptional understanding of the opposite sex, but rather their ability to express insight into other people who are distinctly not them, but Martin’s gotten rather high praise for his female (and male) characters from many sources, so perhaps some of them were looking at the issue in this light.
She’s Come Undone by the male author Wally Lamb has been praised for its utterly convincing portrayal of its female main character.
I’ve never read it.
I hear Memoirs of a Geisha has a good female lead written by a male author.