Women better represented in Victorian novels than modern, finds study

Analysis finds proportion of female authors and characters fell after 19th century, with male authors remaining ‘remarkably resistant’ to writing women Women in novels have tended to “feel”, while men “get”; women smile or laugh, while men grin or chuckle. An analysis of more than 100,000 novels spanning more than 200 years shows how gendered even seemingly innocuous words can be – as well as revealing an unexpected decline in the proportion of female novelists from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century.Academics from the universities of Illinois and California at Berkeley used an algorithm to examine 104,000 works of fiction dating from 1780 to 2007, drawn mostly from HathiTrust Digital Library. The algorithm identified both author and character genders. The academics expected to see an increase in the prominence of female characters in literature across the two centuries. Instead, “from the 19th century through the early 1960s we see a story of steady decline,” write Ted Underwood, David Bamman and Sabrina Lee in their paper The Transformation of Gender in English-Language Fiction, which has just been published in the Journal of Cultural Analytics.No one has been willing to advance the dismal suggestion that the whole story from 1800 to 1960 was a story of declineOn average, men remain remarkably resistant to giving women more than a third of the character-space in their stories Related: Pushing back: why it's time for women to rewrite the story Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2018-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Star Wars' novels: still on bestseller lists

The newest 'Star Wars' novel, 'Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse,' holds the No. 8 slot on the New York Times bestseller list. Success has become the norm for the books. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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"Lusty, witty" novel to Blue Door

HarperCollins has acquired a novel set in early 1760s England, written by a professor of English... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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James Bond novels come back to Random House

The lucrative James Bond novels return to Random House, their original publisher, through a new deal. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Two Madeley novels for S&S

Simon & Schuster has acquired two novels by broadcaster and Richard & Judy Book Club... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Finding the Right Course

It’s not just trade bookstores that are feeling the pinch from online retailers and other discounters. At the National Association of College Stores’ Campus Market Expo held earlier this month at the Salt Lake Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, NACS’s OnCampus Research division... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Survey Finds 60% of Publishers Agree that Print Publishing’s Time is Limited

Almost two-thirds of industry leaders from the publishing industry foresee that newspapers and other print publishers will end up as digital-only enterprises by 2020, according to a survey conducted by MPP Global Solutions. Conducted during two web ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Banned novel makes Indie Foreign Fiction Prize longlist

A novel banned by the Chinese government has made the longlist for the Independent Foreign... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dark Horse Comics graphic novels coming to Nook Tablet and Nook Color

Dark Horse Comics has penciled a contract with Barnes & Noble (it'll be sent off to be inked and colored next week*) to get the former's content onto the latter's Tablet and Color e-readers. Available in the Nook Comic store, you'll be able to pick up a mix of the publisher's licensed titles... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2012-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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S&S acquires novel inspired by Meryl Streep

Simon & Schuster has acquired a novel called The Meryl Streep Movie Club, in which four women... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Retailers welcome "huge news", novel due later this year says Rowling

Retailers have welcomed the "huge news" J K Rowling is to publish her first novel for... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Retailers welcome "huge news" of Rowling novel

Retailers have welcomed the "huge news" J K Rowling is to publish her first novel for... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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JK Rowling writing adult novel

J.K. Rowling, whose Harry Potter fantasy book series became a global publishing phenomenon, is writing her first novel for adults but the title and plot are still a closely-guarded secret. Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2012-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Little, Brown to publish J K Rowling's first adult novel

Little, Brown is publish J K Rowling’s first novel for adults worldwide in the English... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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S&S orders Darkness for Gregory's YA novels

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rowling to pen first adult novel

Author JK Rowling announces she plans to publish her first adult novel, which will be "very different" to the Harry Potter books she is famous for. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2012-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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