The novel that means most to men is about indifference, alienation and lack of emotional responses. That which means most to women is about deeply held feelings, a struggle to overcome circumstances and passion, research by the University of London has found.
Professor Lisa Jardine and Annie Watkins of Queen Mary College interviewed 500 men, many of whom had some professional connection with literature, about the novels that had changed their lives. The most frequently named book was Albert Camus’s The Outsider, followed by JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. The project, called Men’s Milestone Fiction, commissioned by the Orange prize for fiction and the Guardian, followed on from similar research into women’s favourite novels undertaken by the same team last year.
Women, by contrast, most frequently cited works by Charlotte and Emily Brontë, Margaret Atwood, George Eliot and Jane Austen. They also named a “much richer and more diverse” set of novels than men, according to Prof Jardine. There was a much broader mix between contemporary and classic works and between male and female authors.
“We found that men do not regard books as a constant companion to their life’s journey, as consolers or guides, as women do,” said Prof Jardine. “They read novels a bit like they read photography manuals.” Women readers used much-loved books to support them through difficult times and emotional turbulence, and tended to employ them as metaphorical guides to behaviour, or as support and inspiration.
I think that when you’re growing up can make a significant difference, as well. Two of the formative books in my life were written within the context of World War 2 — when I was kid discovering the power and breadth of reading.
Let’s face it. Women are different than men. I hope the universithy professors connect the dots and realize that difference does not always mean unequal and it is perfectly correct to deduce the possibilit that men’s make up is better for engineering and woman’s may be better for other things, such as leadership. I’d rather have a president concerned with about deeply held feelings, a struggle to overcome circumstances and passion than a man who was alienated and indifferent. (I don’t know where Hillary fits in here.)
“The Outsider” being the most meaningful to men supports my theory of existence which I call “0123…”.
The Bible starts at 1 where God is immensely and infinitely lonely so he creates the Universe “in the Beginning.” But being the Bible was written by God (a man) He couldn’t write about 0, His origin. He couldn’t know 0–in fact Western culture has no name for 0, though the East does. Here name is Tao. Tao always was, and Tao (0) is Nothing–pure Emptiness. No one knows how God came from Tao, that is how 1 came from 0, but He came from Her. The tragic part is that when God came into existence He was the only one, the ultimate Outsider because He could not know the Insider (0, or Tao), namely because there was Nothing to know. God therefore came up with an idea. An idea is the beginning of Physical Manifestation. However to do so He had to destroy Himself–explode Himself into 2. 2 is where the Bible begins. With 2 comes duality and the beginnings of knowing; knowing brings about knowledge. 2 is the most fundamental number of physical reality (even Light has a dual nature: it is a wave AND it is a particle). We need 2 to understand. We as techies know that it only takes a 0bit and a 1bit to describe anything. 2 then gives birth to 3 which is the beginning of richness and complexity.
To reiterate:
0 (Tao)= Nothing, Before the Beginning, Female
1 (God)= Everything (but know nothing), In the Beginning, Male
2 (Two)= Duality, Most fundamental component of reality
3 (Three)= The beginning of Richness
I think deep down in our very core men ARE God and women ARE Tao. Union is our goal but a paradox to our true natures.
That cool david…where did you copy that from?
0 = zero, Which is the absence of a measurable quantity.
And my defining book of all time is The Grapes of Wrath, by Steinbeck.
Diverse?
All I’ve been seeing from women reading are pink novels, self help books and Cosmo.
FYI: The Orange Prize is awarded in the UK by a cell phone company; The Outsider is more often called The Stranger in the US.
For me it’s White Teeth by Zadie Smith, a book written by a young Englishwoman many about what it means to be a man in the modern world. I guess she had to do something between Cosmo publication dates, eh?
blank, Truth is self-evident.
The Grapes of Wrath I’ve gotta read…
My defining book was reading Ishmael by Daniel Quinn three years ago. It set me on a quest to find Truth in a world of Lies.
Jim, I have to laugh. You bought into the whole men are evil women good BS. Men make war and women want peace. If women ruled there would be more peace. Women are just as bad as men and worst sometimes. It’s all about power and it will always be about power. Look at Cleopatra or Harold’s daughter. There are alot of women who may not be the direct leader but were able to manipulate the men who were into doing horrorable things.
I worked with a bunch of women and women bosses at one job. They may have had the care about feeling stuff and all that but the also turned on each other of stupid stuff too. They weren’t nice about it either. Did this make them better or worst bosses. Not really either way. Do I understand why guys deside something better than a woman? yes but i’m a guy and I’m from Mars