There's a reason why trainspotters are not girls, there's a reason why there's the myth of the slightly autistic male genius, there's a reason why Gertrude Stein believed that her self-presentation was male. One could argue that was Susan Sontag also. The things that we associate with femaleness are not the single-minded, exclusive pursuit of a vocation, whether it be art or anything else. It is not a model that is widespread in our culture, it's not something we think of for women.
Claire MessudIf youโre reading to find friends, youโre in deep trouble. We read to find life, in all its possibilities. The relevant question isnโt โIs this a potential friend for me?โ but โIs this character alive?'
Claire MessudIf I had to summarize, most broadly, my concerns as a writer, I'd say the question 'How then must we live?' is at the heart of it, for me.
Claire MessudAnyway, these books I love, theyโre all books by menโevery last one of them. Because if itโs unseemly and possibly dangerous for a man to be angry, itโs totally unacceptable for a woman to be angry. I wanted to write a voice that for me, as a reader, had been missing from the chorus: the voice of an angry woman.
Claire Messud