Great Women of American Literature

[Anonymous]

Ursula K Leguin
Lorraine Hansberry
Barbara Kingsolver



OP, the fact that we can't rattle off as many female American writers isn't necessarily because there is a lack of literary talent. In general, there is less attention paid to American writing as "literature" than there is to British, and even less attention paid to female authors.

[Anonymous]

Louise Erdrich

[Anonymous]

Kate Chopin
Louisa May Alcott
Octavia Butler
Ursula K. LeGuin
Connie Willis
Martha Gellhorn
Toni Morrison
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Judy Blume
Robin McKinley
Sarah Orne Jewett
Maya Angelou
Kate Walbert
Anne Tyler
Jhumpa Lahiri
Patricia Highsmith
Shirley Jackson
Carson McCullers
Flannery O'Connor
Eudora Welty
Katherine Anne Porter
Ann Patchett
Katherine Paterson
Annie Proulx
Sandra Cisneros
Joan Didion
Madeleine L'Engle
Edith Wharton
Edwidge Danticat
Louise Erdrich
Marilynne Robinson

[Anonymous]

No one has mentioned Alice Munro yet?

[Anonymous]

Alice Munro is Canadian.

[Anonymous]

Ann Rice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ann Rice?

Eek. No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ann Rice?

Definitely! She ranks up there with the giants like Stephanie Meyer and Danielle Steel

[Anonymous]

Jenna Jameson

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alice Munro is Canadian.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alice Munro is Canadian.

+1

I don't understand the "+1" in this case. You're agreeing on a fact that she is Canadian? What's the point?

[Anonymous]

Julia Alvarez

(Louise Erdich is also a hack.)

OP, I'm with you. We have a paltry and pathetic list of women in literature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like Marilynne Robinson, Joan Didion (prefer her novels to her essays and reporting) and Toni Morrison. More recently Donna Tartt.

A recent favorite that I hope joins those ranks is Rachel Kushner. Nell Zink is interesting too.

The Great Women of American Literature title may be too highfalutin', but two more writers I enjoy but forgot yesterday are Claire Messud and Jane Smiley.

I'm a third of the way through Hanya Yanagihara A Little Life (this mother is long) and am pretty blown away so far.

[Anonymous]

Laura Ingalls Wilder (with her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane) inspired generations of young readers and captured the pioneer spirit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alice Munro is Canadian.

+1

I don't understand the "+1" in this case. You're agreeing on a fact that she is Canadian? What's the point?

Agreeing with that answer, yes, because I had the same thought process. "What about Alice Munro? Oh, she's Canadian."