Do the math

That phrase became a nice bit of shorthand between me and my friend Susan, whom I met in a magazine writing class. We used it as a signal, more discreet than rolling our eyes, when the topic of gender came up. As in: there are no barriers to women being published these days, or women are the new men in terms of representative voices, blah blah blah.

Oh puh-leeze. Do the math. Check out the masthead and contributors list at the New Yorker. Oooh! Predominantly male! Try the Atlantic. Look! Straight white males! Newsweek, Time, the New Republic, Slate. All the same. Check out any publication of note. Or bestseller list. Or collection of A-list critics. It's raining men. Even though "women have all the opportunities these days."

Now, I can hear the responses -- angry b****, ungrateful b****, sniping b****.

How about truthful b****? Or just, methodically doing the math b****?

This is up for me, at the moment, because of the glut of end of the year "best book" lists. Do I begrudge any of the great men their press, their adulation, their contracts? No -- Philip Roth and John Updike and Richard Ford and Michael Chabon and all the rest of them have done the grueling work of writing and editing and rewriting novels. Noteworthy novels. Critically acclaimed novels. In 2007, they wrapped up the sagas that have encompassed decades. They completed the arc of their iconic protagonists -- examining the dark corners of their souls, in midlife, getting older, losing their erections, facing their mortality. And this year, those novels all received great acclaim. They were lauded as works representative of the universal experience, meditations on the modern human condition. They were not classified as limited stories, self-absorbed books, or internal, interior novels. No, those terms are used generally for the contemporary novels written by women.

What a grossly overblown statement, you grumble. Then check out last fall's City Arts and Lecture program featuring Richard Ford, interviewed by Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket. (Hey, two white guys sitting around talking!) Handler asks Ford whether he considers any of the Frank Bascombe chronicles to be interior works, focused as they are on the protagonist's life, choices, regrets... Oh, no. No, no, responds Ford. Subtly inferring that his works are bigger than that. More expansive, more universal. Which reminded me of going to hear Martin Amis read here at Black Oak Books, during his London Fields book tour. An audience member asked the question all authors hear at these events. And who are you reading these days? After rattling off a list of American and British male authors, he was asked (I swear not by me) are you reading any women authors? Oh, no was his unabashed reply. I mean they don't write material I'm interested in. I loved London Fields, loved Nicola Six, but I was completely blown away by his response. I mean, I'm able to read Julian Barnes and Penelope Lively and admire both their works. And I've slogged through packs of novels by men that haven't been about characters or interests that I've particularly enjoyed, all in pursuit of being well read. Is it too much to expect men to do the same?

Here's what I mind about the status quo. It's the guys that get all the oxygen in the room. Aah, you say, but Doris Lessing won the Nobel this year. Yes, and check out my earlier blog entry to read Harold Bloom's response. Or better still, do the math. What's the tally of men Nobel Fiction winners to women? Really?? That overwhelming?

I know, I know, I can hear the rumblings. Again my response -- do the math. Tally up the numbers of published novels by men, the number of books by men on the fiction and non-fiction recommended lists, the number of lead critics who are men. (And Michiko Kakutani, though she reviews daily, and is as powerful as they come, is only one gal. How many Jonathan Yardleys are there overseeing the book review sections across the country?) Listen to Michael Krasny's December Forum program with Oscar Villalon, the Chronicle's book editor. The list of the year's best books -- overwhelmingly male. Or check out All Things Considered book reviewer Alan Cheuse's year-end list. Lotta guys. Even Fresh Air's Maureen Corrigan has a list that doesn't reach a 50/50 split for male and female authors (though her list is my favorite).

Wait, wait -- I'm not advocating quotas! I'm not saying there have to be spots reserved for women authors to get a representative sample. I'm saying that there were plenty of wonderful novels published last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, written by women. I'm just wondering what can be done to encourage the men, the overwhelming number of men who set the opinions, to read and value them.

Just saying.