La Nouvelle Histoire

Sometimes I wonder if it means anything that most, if not all, of my favorite works of fiction considered to be part of the "Great Books" canon, feature males as their central characters-- and were written by male authors themselves.

It's a lengthy list: Warren's All the King's Men, Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Safran Foer's Everything is Illuminated, just to name a few. Today, I'm adding the classic Fahrenheit 451 to my collection (just finished it on the L train this morning).

Have I always inherently related more to male protagonists than females? Are men simply more interesting to read about than women? Am I grossly overgeneralizing? Can I finish this paragraph having written it entirely as a series of questions? (Nope. Ran out.)

A partial explanation: simply put, there are far, far fewer books that have been put into print starring women, told by women, written by women. Perhaps that was the most obvious answer.

But I find it somewhat shocking that most of the shiny new paperbacks I eagerly look forward to purchasing at Barnes & Noble so noticeably lack a female perspective. Even the select two or three books that have changed my way of looking at the world (and that's doesn't happen too often) contain women characters that are starkly one-dimensional.

What I mean is that fiction-- creative nonfiction, too-- is longing, begging, for the new and improved great American novel. A piece for the 21st century that tells a story never told before, in a way we've never heard before. I know that there's room out there for the woman/hero, the gay/hero, the gay/woman/hero in literaure, and there will be a day when that isn't weird or wrong.

Part of me wonders whether I'm capable of even writing the first chapter-- hell, a single page-- of my own novel. The mere thought of it gives me the jitters. I might have a better chance of winning the lottery than being the next J.D. Salinger.

At the same time, it makes the blue in my eyes burn a bit more brightly. Every kid has a dream, and a kid can dream, can't she?

Baby steps, though. Before the novel comes the novella. Before the novella comes the short story. Or the essay. (It's a lot like one of those wooden Russian dolls-- a nugget within another nugget.)

And before that?

For now-- the blog. Here's to getting started.