Thursday, December 10, 2015

Women dominate 100 greatest British books list



Virginia Woolf, Monica Ali, Zadie Smith and Jane Austen

Virginia Woolf, Monica Ali, Zadie Smith and Jane Austen Credit: REX/PA
A list of 100 best British books chosen by international critics has women coming out on top, with George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Charlotte and Emily Brontë and Mary Shelley listed in the top 10.
The list, which was compiled by the BBC from contributions made by 82 literary critics from around the world – none of whom were from the UK – is topped by Middlemarch, whose author, Mary Anne Evans, had to submit it under a man’s name, George Eliot, to ensure publication.

Modernist writer Woolf had two of her novels in the top three: To The Lighthouse in second place and Mrs Dalloway in third. Both she and Elliot appear again further up the list: The Waves is at 16 and Orlando at 65, and Eliot’s Daniel Deronda appears at 70.
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And at the BBC:

Are Britain’s Best Authors Women? They’re Certainly Rockin’ BBC’s Top 100 British Novels List

Female novelists wrote six of the top ten titles on the list, including the top three, and make up 40% of the total. The UK certainly has a long tradition of great women authors, from Jane Austen to Hilary Mantel, but previous lists haven’t been quite so equitable. What made the difference here? (Actually, it’s those bloody foreigners.)

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