First Person Feminine Men Have Been Narrating Novels through Female Heroines Ever since`Clarissa', but the Idea Never Fails to Cause a Stir. Hester Lacey Reports on the Latest Cross-Writers

Lacey, Hester, The Independent (London, England)

SMILLA Jaspersen, Hope Clearwater, Mike Houlihan and now Alison MacAteer: all heroines of modern novels, and all heroines who are doubly fictitious. Each is a female persona adopted by a male novelist. Miss Smilla with her feeling for snow is given her voice by Peter Hoeg, Hope Clearwater narrates William Boyd's Brazzaville Beach, Mike Hoolihan, despite the name, is the blowsy blonde female cop who tells her story in Martin Amis's Night Train, and Alison MacAteer is the protagonist in Luke Jennings's new novel, Beauty Story.

But why try to become a woman, if you aren't one to start with? Surely it's hard enough in itself to put together a convincing novel without having …

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Publication information: Article title: First Person Feminine Men Have Been Narrating Novels through Female Heroines Ever since`Clarissa', but the Idea Never Fails to Cause a Stir. Hester Lacey Reports on the Latest Cross-Writers. Contributors: Lacey, Hester - Author. Newspaper title: The Independent (London, England). Publication date: May 17, 1998. Page number: 5. © 2009 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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