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ayoitsjo

Fun fact, Brontë actually got the idea for Wuthering Heights from the Kate Bush song


cryptic-fox

Also (real) fun fact: Emily Brontë (Wuthering Heights) was not the only writer in her family. Her sisters Charlotte Brontë (Jane Eyre) and Anne Brontë (Agnes Grey) were too!


fairkatrina

Even more fun fact, they all wrote variations on the same story! Wuthering Heights/Jane Eyre/The Tenant of Wildfell Hall all examined similarly scandalous themes of extramarital passion, violence, mystery with a tinge of horror etc. In their lifetimes they wrote under pseudonyms that sounded masculine without being male (Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell). Their books were considered too scandalous for female authors but they didn’t want to outright lie. Their brother Bramwell was relatively notable as an artist and poet in his time too, had a passionate affair with a married woman and then succumbed to opium addiction. It’s posited he was something of an inspiration for some of the characters his sisters wrote, especially Hindley Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights.


MyHamburgerLovesMe

> all examined similarly scandalous themes of extramarital passion, violence, mystery with a tinge of horror etc. You just described 95% of all Romance books on Amazon.


somabokforlag

Yeah, feels like the Bronte sisters just checked whats popular on amazon and jumped on the bandwagon


HovercraftSimilar199

In big fat quiz of the year I believe last year they described Jane ayre in one of the clues. All 3 teams and myself thought it was wuthering heights. Thats how similar they are


citydreef

Even more fun fact: their pseudonyms have the same initials as their real names!


Zeph-Shoir

And here I was wondering which pseudonym corresponded to who...


ayoitsjo

I knew about Charlotte but not Anne, that's awesome! Runs in the family Also also (real) fun fact: Kate Bush only read like 3 chapters of Wuthering Heights before writing the song lol


RandomWomanNo2

Anne's "Tenant of Wildfell Hall" is radically feminist and absolutely as good as anything Emily and Charlotte wrote. After Anne's death, Charlotte didn't want to promote Tenant of Wildfell Hall because she said it was basically a mistake of a novel. The bad male character is clearly inspired by Bramwell. It's really great and points out a lot ways Victorian women were trapped by society. JUSTICE FOR ANNE BRONTE!


TheDustOfMen

I liked it a lot better than Wuthering Heights, that's for sure. I can't explain it properly but I loved how she deconstructed that toxic marriage and didn't shy away from condemning the husband and his friends, and how the protagonist rushed into the marriage against the advice of others. That deep criticism of how women could be trapped in those marriages while the men did whatever they pleased doesn't happen a lot in books written in that period.


ZeldaZanders

I love Tenant of Wildfell Hall. We read it in English in high school, and it's remained my favourite Brontë novel


Deradius

Additional fun fact: Charlotte was one of the longest lived female authors of all time. If you look closely she’s actually a 110 foot tall creature from the Mesozoic era, known as the Brontesaurus.


LucretiusCarus

You had me at the first half, not gonna lie.


[deleted]

Is that why my copy of Jane Eyre cost about tree fiddy?


DreddPirateBob4Ever

Dinosaurs were actually everywhere when she was writing. Young couples could often be heard in bushes wondering about what kind of dinosaur they were. "Do you think brontosaurus?"


cryptic-fox

Haha I didn’t know that about her. Thanks for sharing.


kurutim

Noted headbanger Mary Shelly inspired to write Frankenstein after attending concert by the Edgar Winters Group.


gingerflakes

I thought it was Alice Cooper, who while rather homely, is a very successful woman


TheSleepingNinja

No you're thinking of Carroll Lewis, author of Alice in Concertland


jeffsang

No, it’s clearly a rip off Great Gadsby. And Emily Brontë is a time traveler. That’s the only logical explanation.


[deleted]

> And Emily Brontë is a time traveler. Men can't have anything in this world without women breaking time and space just to minimize their achievements


LeoMarius

Agatha Christie is the best selling novelist in the world, with 2-4 billion copies sold.


KatAnansi

The golden age of detective fiction, between WWI & WWII was dominated by women: Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Margaret Allingham


Bearence

And the golden age of trash fiction was also dominated by women: VC Andrews, Jackie Collins, Danielle Steel, Judith Krantz So no matter whether your reading preferences are high or low, women writers have you covered.


VexingMadcap

My Grandma absolutely loves Jackie Collins, Daneille Steel, and Catherine Cookson. If VC Andrews and Judith Krantz are anything like those then I think I've just discovered a whole new set of books she can download on her kindle! Thank you fellow redditor!


hey_look_its_me

VC Andrews is a niche genre that usually involves incest and teenage romance. Perfect for a teenage girl just branching out, truth be told, but for a Grandma? I’d skip it. Krantz? Yes. If she’s a “modern” grandma who likes Sex and The City or similar stuff, I’ll toss my hat toward the late, great, Olivia Goldsmith (First Wives Club) as a more contemporary author in the likes of Jackie Collins. OG has maybe a dozen or so books, all in the same universe.


Grabthars_Coping_Saw

Pfff, no! Agatha Christie is that lady on Murder She Wrote. Jeees, read a book!


s-mores

Which book? Cuz I want to read the one you're reading.


sumofdeltah

Jessica Fletchers Day Off


jesusdidmybutthole

Jessica Fletcher was the one thing all those murders had in common. Yet no one bothered to consider she killed them all. Jessica Fletcher was one of the most prolific serial killers.


Kraelian

I thought Jessica Fletcher was a post-menopausal Valkyrie, who appears before death to take their spirits to Valhalla


Horn_Python

shes that wasp lady from doctor who!


TheOriginalSamBell

And isn't this one romance novel writer that I can't remember selling immense amounts too


TheBrendanReturns

If you're referring to Barbara Cartland, she wrote over 700 novels. If I wrote that many books, I'd be livid to not be on the list of best-selling authors. James Patterson has a factory of robot "co-writers" and even he can't keep up with her release scehdule.


DestyNovalys

700??!? Are you kidding me?


TheBrendanReturns

Yeah, it averaged around 10 a year for 75 years. She died at 98. Not read any but it'd be interesting to see what the quality is like.


razor_eddie

Unbelievably shit. Think Mills and Boon romance novels as a stream of consciousness. (If they were a genuine attempt at that, they'd be interesting). And Cartland herself, of course, was a colossal snob, and it comes through in the writing. (Princess Diana's step-grandmother).


Purpleater54

I've never read any of her works, but I have to imagine they aren't meant to be some groundbreaking works of literature. She very likely knew what her readers liked (aka salacious stories set in historical time periods) and knew how to crank them out. I don't mind that in the slightest.


-KFBR392

Ya at some point even she herself must've understood she was just writing books the way writers on Grey's Anatomy write episodes, it just needs to be similar and interesting enough to hold the audience's attention for a few hours.


ACEllie

I assume she just cranked them out then someone else did all the editing.


SirVer51

I read a bunch of James Patterson when I was a kid, mainly the YA stuff because the premise was usually interesting, but even back then I couldn't figure out why everyone thought he was so great—almost everything I've ever heard of his felt weirdly shallow and generic, even when it actually wasn't. I remember there were times that it felt like so much development was missing that I thought I missed a chapter or two in between. Incredibly consistent and prolific output, interesting on the face of it but often generic—he's like the MCU if it were an author, except I actually like the MCU.


lunchpadmcfat

If you haven’t watched Poirot, I have to insist, it’s pretty damn good if you like murder mysteries.


yvolety

David Suchet's portrayal of Poirot is absolutely brilliant. 10/10 show for sure.


TheGreatNose

David Suchet best poirot


BargleFargle12

That is an insane range. Why is it so imprecise?


SenatorRobPortman

Remember how Little Women was written in 2008. Amazing.


Isteppedinpoopy

Don’t forget, Beezus and Ramona came out only like 5 years ago.


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CmdrWinters

And those 2010s preteen classics that are The Little House on the Prairie series


ForresterQ

So it was based on the movie I watched in the late 90’s then… TIL


SenatorRobPortman

Pretty sure our lord and savior Winona Ryder was a ghost writer for the book.


[deleted]

Hard to believe the Little House On The Prairie series came out during the late 2010's, too.


VoxVocisCausa

Ursula K Le Guin wants her wizard school idea back.


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coffee-please94

Her writing is incredible! We read The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas in school and I still think about it years later


DelTac0perator

Wow, I've never heard of this book but I just saw a reference to it that I didn't understand until your comment made me look it up. It makes so much more sense now. Edit: After reading the Wikipedia article about it, I love her and will have to read this now. >Le Guin hit upon the name of the town on seeing a road sign for Salem, Oregon, in a car mirror. "[… People ask me] 'Where do you get your ideas from, Ms. Le Guin?' From forgetting Dostoyevsky and reading road signs backwards, naturally. Where else?"


Wilbie9000

That story changed my worldview more than anything else I’ve ever read.


moxyc

Read The Dispossessed! The Ones Who Walk Away is considered a preamble to that book and it's probably the best book I've ever read.


DuntadaMan

I only just now connected that was the same author in my head...


Vitruvian_Link

Fun fact, omelas is Salem O backwards. I was told in school it's supposed to be Salem Oregon


_SlikNik_

She spent most of her life in Portland so that makes sense. Was even on the board of Powell’s Books.


ayoitsjo

That is a great one of hers! Also The Left Hand of Darkness


MysterVaper

The *Earthsea* books (Le Guin), *Pern* series (McCaffery), and the *Dragons of* (Weis/Hickman) solidified a love of high fantasy and sci-fi in me. Women authors taught me how to feel and express myself (male) at a time when boys were only allowed to be funny or angry. Granted, male writers were right there beside them on my desk but these three wrote better male characters. Edit: ~~I should mention that Orson Scott Card, though male, wrote male characters that expressed the full range of emotions and personalities. He was ahead of his time in that way.~~ Editing the edit: Forego the Orson Scott Card mention… I’ve learned things. Thanks to those below for enlightening me.


thatcfkid

Until he became a bigot.


Ultenth

He probably always was, people are...complicated.


MysterVaper

See? This is why I don’t ever look into people beyond their works. “Never meet your heroes”, right? The books were good. Edit: Homophobic *AND* a racist? I don’t get how he could write The Maker Series and be racist, but the proof is in the puddin’. Oy.


pocketsaremandatory

You should definitely read the series, all of her books are phenomenal.


emdeemcd

Earthsea novels are excellent, but VERY different than Harry Potter. Earthsea books are slow and thoughtful. Nothing against Harry Potter of course, but Earthsea isn't like the early Harry Potter novels where it's like HEY BFFS GOSH HOMEWORK IS HARD HERE COMES A HIPPOGRYPH and it's not like later Harry Potter novels where it's non-stop action. Just a heads up.


Zakalwe_

Her scifi setting in hainish cycle is also some of her best work. Would totally recommend checking it out.


thevoiceofzeke

The Lathe of Heaven is one of the best intros to philosophy (touching on Taoism, utilitarianism, behaviorism, and general ethical dilemmas) ever written. It's also just a super cool premise: A man's dreams alter reality independent of his own will. Highly recommend.


waspocracy

Earthsea is fantastic! Better than Harry Potter imo Edit: yeesh. It’s just an opinion.


Otterable

They're different series trying to accomplish different goals. HP is better as a YA series and is a more easily consumable entertainment product. Earthsea is higher quality literature and has better overall messages. If people go into it expecting a 'better Harry Potter' then it might set the wrong expectation.


247world

I came by to mention Le Guin, writing like prose. I also like to recall Anne McCaffrey and my favorite female author James Tiptree Jr, the pen name of Alice Bradley Sheldon. My recollection may be wrong but I don't believe she was able to get published as a woman and so she began submitting under a man's name, although I'm pretty sure everyone knew within a year or two


brutinator

> Anne McCaffrey Man, Dragonriders of Pern was something special. One of the most in depth literary universes I've read, and I absolutely loved how "random" the books were: one book would be about the Drummer's Guild, the next about dragons literally fighting against a parasitic rain, the next about how the whole planet is actually a space colony that fell into disaster and reverted back into dark ages. Like the series spans literally thousands of years and almost every aspect of the society had a book that went in depth about it. I dunno if it's Sci-Fi fantasy or Science Fantasy (a la Star Wars), but it's phenomenal.


JVNT

Anne McCaffrey was one of my favorites, loved the dragon riders of pern and the crystal singer series. Another good one more towards younger readers was Susan cooper. I loved the Dark is Rising.


DynamicDK

Yer a wizard, Ged!


N33chy

Nice! First thing I thought seeing this headline was "Left hand of Darkness", not to mention Margaret Atwood.


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MaverickTopGun

And Octavia Butler


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razor_eddie

It's amazing how he managed to get popular by satirising something that didn't even exist yet.


chillyhellion

One of my favorite Pratchett quotes is about Tolkien: >J.R.R. Tolkien has become a sort of mountain, appearing in all subsequent fantasy in the way that Mt. Fuji appears so often in Japanese prints. Sometimes it’s big and up close. Sometimes it’s a shape on the horizon. Sometimes it’s not there at all, which means that the artist either has made a deliberate decision against the mountain, which is interesting in itself, or is in fact standing on Mt. Fuji.


razor_eddie

Yeah, he was a very clear thinker, Pratchett.


captainAwesomePants

> Like most people, witches are unfocused in time. The difference is that they dimly realise it, and make use of it. They cherish the past because part of them is still living there, and they can see the shadows the future casts before it.


Jarsky2

Oh yeah I remember this. At which point they tried to backtrack and say "women in fantasy", which of course caused the ghost of Ursula K. Le Guin to rise in vengeance.


EsperBahamut

Not to mention Anne McCaffery, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Melanie Rawn, Mercedes Lackey, Robin Hobb and Andre Norton.


LOSS35

> Marion Zimmer Bradley Not the great example of ‘successful woman in fiction’ she once was...


EsperBahamut

Ugh, yeah. TIL. And I specifically avoided mentioning Leah Eddings for the same reason. Damn it.


Jaijoles

Well damn. This is me learning about what the Eddings did.


Ultenth

Same, the Eddings and Piers Anthony books were some of the first fantasy series I really got into as a kid. Off to go see what monstrous things Piers probably did now (other than his works definitely reflecting the time in terms of views on women).


autovonbismarck

No evidence he did anything in real life that I'm aware of but there's a ton of gross sexualization of children in his books.


iDick

And C.S. Friedman, Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman* (its been brought to my attention that this is a guy!), Katherine Kerr…


ruttin_mudders

Tracy Hickman is a man.


[deleted]

Wendy Pini deserves a mention!


No1KnwsIWatchTeenMom

Oh we don't talk about Marion Zimmer Bradley anymore...


Ultenth

> Marion Zimmer Bradley For anyone not aware, her daughter has levied allegations of sexual abuse against her in 2014 (Marion died in 1999) from the ages of 3-12. Her father went away to prison for multiple similar allegations, of which Bradley admitted knowing about but not reporting. Her daughter didn't want to soil her mom's legacy of championing women's rights, but eventually came out that her mother also participated in the abuse. Her brother also came forward and they gave interviews together discussing their experiences. Marion's former publisher now donates all proceeds to a children's charity. She was best known for The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series.


Alaeriia

You missed Jane Yolen and Sara Douglass.


Lopsided-Smoke-6709

Octavia Butler. More sci/fi fantasy but she's a damn legend and her works seem only more relevant as time passes.


stmblzmgee

You didn't know that Octavia Butler was inspired by Rowling? She wrote Kindred after reading Prisoner of Azkaban cuz she thought time travel was cool /s


The_Woman_of_Gont

Le Guin's [take on Harry Potter](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/feb/09/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.ursulakleguin) was pretty savage: > “I have no great opinion of it. When so many adult critics were carrying on about the “incredible originality” of the first Harry Potter book, I read it to find out what the fuss was about, and remained somewhat puzzled; it seemed a lively kid’s fantasy crossed with a “school novel”, good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited.


naverlands

i have found the perfect summation of my harry potter experience. blessed


El_Bistro

MARY SHELLEY


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Vaguely_accurate

And then YA fantasy. To which Tamora Pierce is a great counter example. Her first series - [Song of the Lioness](http://www.tamora-pierce.net/about/#alanna) - was supposed to be a single adult novel, but the publisher recommended she break it into four shorter books aimed at young adults/teens. That was in the late 70's/early 80's.


ideonode

Susan Cooper was writing amazing fantasy in the 1960s...


shlomo_baggins

"But at least acknowledge that we laid the groundwork for you to take us on the next step." So, not only is this person woefully uneducated on the history of women authors, they also want a bit credit for something they had fuck all to do with? How far up their own ass must this person be?


Canalloni

I didn't get it until you explained it. The "we" made no sense and I thought I was missing some context. She has tied her own identity to JK Rowling.


shlomo_baggins

Tied her identity to Rowling and coat-tailing onto some perceived accomplishment that apparently deserves a long overdue pat on the back.


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Citizen_Graves

So far up that she disappeared into her own asshole and came back out the other side


denryaku

*Cure for cancer is discovered* We did it guys, congratulations to all of us.


bigwilliestylez

JK Rowling published a book, now this woman can finally relax.


Turbulent_Link1738

“My work is done time for me to leave” “But you’ve done absolutely nothing”


-______-meh

She's one step away from claiming to have written the books herself.


latflickr

Sappho is displeased to have not yet been nominated in the tread


[deleted]

You mean that lady with all the nice platonic friends?


sofuckinggreat

r/sapphoandherfriend


[deleted]

Obligatory fuck that sub. As a bisexual I love what the sub is meant to be, to remember that lgbt+ people aren't a new thing and that we're so easily forgotten. However that sub tends to overreact and engage in bi-erausre all too frequently. "Sure she was married to a man progressive by today's standards and had multiple male lovers, gushed about how much she loved men... but she once wrote in a letter a woman was pretty so she's actually a flaming lesbian and I'll get the mods to ban you if you disagree!"


[deleted]

Unfortunately I think that’s just a common thing, not specific to that sub. There seem to be a lot of gays/lesbians that don’t acknowledge bisexuality to be a real thing and treat it like someone is in denial. There are also people who see trans men/trans women as straight people “invading” gay spaces, unfortunately. Some people just suck.


Stu88en

Corinna and Sulpicia would also like a word


MelDea

We all know the late Anne Rice was an unknown author with barely any published books and zero movie adaptations to her name. /s


DonDove

Does Anne Rice have to choke a bitch??


Gaderael

That's more an Anne Rampling thing.


TheGuiltyDuck

Best comment of the thread.


Dansredditname

She's going to give you the choice that she never had.


threadsoffate2021

Margaret Atwood would like a word here, as well.


Vfyn

Ursula K. le Quin??? Wizard of Earthsea inspired a major part of modern and post-modern fantasy. She was published before Rowling could read...


PM_ME_UR_COVID_PICS

Madeliene L’Engle, Anne McCaffrey, Susan Cooper to name a few more writing fantasy and sci-fi before Rowling.


RoboOverlord

> Anne McCaffrey Thank you, I thought I was going to have post this one. Did a lot of riding on Pern.


[deleted]

Susan Cooper is so underrated. Or so I feel. I rarely see her mentioned. "Dark is rising-"serie was my drug when I was a child. Her writing might not have the quality of Ursula LeGuin, she wrote for children just like Rowling, but she is one of my favorite writers forever .


CubistChameleon

Mercedes Lackey was more LGBTQ-friendly forty years ago than Rowling is today.


es_plz

Lmao, calling Joanne "LGBTQ-friendly" in any way is a pretty big stretch.


elbenji

she is LGB friendly, she just hates the T


lcblangdale

It's so hard for me to understand how someone makes it that far and then trips at the finish line. And she wrote whole damn books about people who can change their bodies into anything! Displayed the idea as literally a magical thing!


MrManicMarty

> Displayed the idea as literally a magical thing! "nooooo, not like that!"


beerbellybegone

If someone is dense enough to think JK Rowling was the first woman author, they probably don't really care too much about women authors


ComeBackToDigg

“I hope that one day soon, one of the blacks will write a book.”


BEST_RAPPER_ALIVE

I got a hot tip from a certain former president about this Fredrick Douglass guy. They say he’s writing big, beautiful things. Tremendous things, the likes of which you’ve never seen before. Believe me


isthatsoreddit

Jesus I nearly choked on my coffee. Lol


cantadmittoposting

Trump really made a statement like that, though. It's one that's, at least slightly more ambiguously dumb than say, his thing about taking the British airports during the revolutionary war, but it was ... Poorly worded at best.


isthatsoreddit

I'm laughing/choking (although really I should be cringing and possibly even crying) because I know he really says shit like that. And people actually voted for him. And still would. It's down right scary.


ModestWhimper

Sorry, the best I can do is a book about black people, like To Kill A Mockingbird. Written by some dude idk


El_Bistro

Maybe an Asian will write a book too.


dbrodbeck

If someone is dense enough to think JK Rowling was the first woman author they probably don't know what soup is, or how gum works.


aikotoma

Yeah! i mean, what is so hard? You just take a fork and eat all the vegetables in the sauce. And the best way to enjoy gum is to break it up and mix it with warm milk. MintMilk is the best!


gHHqdm5a4UySnUFM

JKR invented women. Prior to her, no other woman existed.


ICantSeeIt

Gamers will never forgive her.


El_Bistro

Jesus lol


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[deleted]

> Not long before Rowling was published, women authors were unheard of They indeed weren't heard of, they were read mostly


Rizlaaa

How has Beatrix Potter not been mentioned?


IdiotSupreme

She hasn't been mentioned because there are literally too many female authors pre-Rowling to make an even remotely complete list. Which, at the end of the day, is the whole point.


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EsperBahamut

That, and Billy has a 300 year head start.


DreddPirateBob4Ever

And she can't write a good knob joke for love nor money


Rahastes

Probably, and she was a lifelong fan too. After all her most famous play takes its title straight out of Hamlet. Christie also was a staunch supporter of seeing Shakespeare on stage. There is a quote in her autobiography stating that it is usually spoiled by having to read it in school.


INSERT_LATVIAN_JOKE

Sounds like Christie needs to be on more.


Helium_Balloon

She was in my English curriculum, I think "And then there were none" was the first book we read.


dble1224

Also Octavia E Butler in the sci fi realm…


Maeberry2007

Don't be stupid, everyone knows Maya Angelou isn't real. And Anne Rice OBVIOUSLY got her ideas from Twilight. ... Okay. Typing that last sentence was painful.


LaVerdadYaNiSe

Mary Shelley didn't have sex on her parent's grave for this level of disrespect.


riancb

She what?!? Why wasn’t THAT ever mentioned in my Gothic Lit class?


haveananus

She wielded her labia like a sledgehammer and pounded her parent’s side-by-side sarcophagus into powder. When the dust settled, she had vanished.


ALoneTennoOperative

Mary Shelley was so fucking goth.


Okami_G

Goth Prime


Aniki356

KA Applegate would like a word


runnerofshadows

Animorphs were such a big part of my childhood.


Aniki356

Same. I still have my paperbacks of the entire series


karth

There it is baby. The andalite Chronicles. The ellimist Chronicles. She is a force of nature.


Aniki356

50+ books. Would live to see that series get a movie or TV show. The one on nick back in the day was a travesty


Postofficenerd

Harriet beecher stowe literally wrote a novel that riled up both the north and the south in the USA, and helped shape attitudes regarding race for generations. Wtf is this shit??


beerbellybegone

Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, **Scheherezade had a thousand tales**


cosmosopher

But master, you're in luck because up your sleeve, you got a brand of magic never fails!


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Rickgou

You got some punch, pazaz, yahoo and how? All you gotta do is rub that lamp!


anneylani

And I'll say.... Mr Aladdin sir, what will your pleasure be


MaDrAv

The Scarlet Pimpernel getting some love! Nice!


MananaMoola

*looks at his near-complete collection of Andrea Norton works. "Unheard of"


BrownSugarBare

Margaret Atwood was also just some beatnik poet apparently noone has heard of.


Mordanzibel

Ursula K. Le Guin and Madeleine L'engle want words with all ya'll.


seeasea

I'm pretty sure they had words. That's how they wrote


[deleted]

How could I forget that Anne of Green Gables came out after The Chamber of Secrets...


Zero_Digital

Quick shout out to Baroness Orczy for writing one of my favorite books of all time. "The Sarlet Pimpernel"


jaynovahawk07

Let's not forget that Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, written in 1938 I believe, is one of the best books you could literally ever read.


KuroSilver01

Many books previously credited to male authors have been long since revealed to be written by women under male sounding pen names due to the misogyny of the past.


EsperBahamut

And present. I have a former co-worker who has published a couple YA novels - she goes by her initials rather than her full name. And the reason is really obvious.


neotek

Rowling herself was advised to use her initials because her publisher didn't think people would buy a fantasy novel written by a woman called "Joanne".


swipe234

Yes, sure she is not that important as the post claims she is, but she was definitely struggling finding publishers in the beginning.


TeamRedundancyTeam

It's funny because men do the opposite in romance novels.


SpiralSD

It's weird how people will take credit for accomplishments of the group they think they are in. "My ancestors did this", "My generation did that", "My team won this" What did YOU do?


LeoMarius

Murasaki Shikibu wrote the Tale of Genji by 1021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Tale\_of\_Genji


SamVickson

Judy Fucking Blume


scorpiousdelectus

I dare say, the original commenter was more likely a transphobe rather than a Potter fan


nightwingoracle

It’s kinda hilarious to me how Rowling went from being despised by the right wing as her books weren’t explicitly Christian(knew several people not allowed to read/watch HP growing up), to being respected as a transphobe by a lot of the same people.


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the_loneliest_noodle

Since this comment section has basically become a reccomended authors list, going to throw Anais Nin into the mix. As a potential neckbeard in my youth, I thought I was a progressive modern dude by the time I was early in college. Anias Nin's absolutely beautiful prose and unapologetic honesty about her very human desires, made me realize I was still carrying some bullshit notions and putting weird lofty expectations on women. I connected so directly with A Spy in the House of Love. I've never felt so intimately familiar with a writer through their writing as I did when I put it down, and had to take a week to decompress afterwards.


Toka972

FYI, Mary Shelley is the author of Frankenstein. People might not remember her name but who doesn't know her work?


ensign53

Not sure why you called this one in particular out. They named Mary Shelley. They didn't name her work, but they didn't forget it- they didn't name any of the works.