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Post by leeeeena on May 17, 2015 12:36:14 GMT
As one of the main themes of our final presentations is Feminism, I have been wondering one question: "Does it matter who the author is?"
In other words, is there any significant influence an author exert to readers outside of literature itself? For example, is literature read differently if it is a female author instead of male?
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Post by hansoo on May 17, 2015 13:00:30 GMT
It surely matters for me. Before I read every book, I always read the author's section in order to briefly understand what kind of person wrote the book I'm about to read. Personally, gender does not matter as significantly as his/her background, culture, and language.
This is a very interesting question as I always have been wondering about it too!
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Post by brandonina on May 17, 2015 13:45:07 GMT
I think for a book that is about feminism, the author might matter. There surely might be some biases depending on the gender of the author. If the author is a female, she might favor and emphasize things about women whereas if the author is a male, he might not advocate feminism as much as her.
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Post by sergeyfen on May 17, 2015 15:22:29 GMT
I think it does, of course most women would be closer to feminism because even though they are not directly participating in feminism they must have friend who do and whenever they hear them they automatically take their side because there is no other sides to take. Also, men can be feminists or just the opposite and i think in such cases it's all about the events or circumstances that they have been through, in easier words it's all about the environment that they have been affected by.
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Post by lukejoo on May 17, 2015 15:52:56 GMT
I think it has a great influence in our understanding of the literature. Rather than seeing this in the views of feminism or not, it's more about the life experiences we have as a man or woman. Obviously, a man's life would be quite different from a woman's as a woman's would differ from a man's. They would see the world through different eyes, thus have different values. It is this understanding of the author that we would need to facilitate our understanding of the literature.
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Post by nerdira on May 17, 2015 15:57:44 GMT
My piece of literature is the Ruined Maid by Thomas Hardy, who often talks about the double standards faced by women in society, namely how women who get around a lot get judged and ostracized while men are congratulated for it. I appreciate him bringing light to the issue, however, it would be more appropriate for a woman to talk about it since they might have a first hand experience with the issue. Nevertheless, its a good thing Hardy did bringing the issue up, as a man with privilege in society.
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Post by James on May 19, 2015 0:39:59 GMT
Back in the century where sexism was very common, I think it was very influential to know who the author is. Female authors used pseudonym for a reason.
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misato
Junior Member
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Post by misato on May 19, 2015 10:11:41 GMT
I think it does because man and woman's views are very different. Even thought the literature which wrote about same theme you can see there are a lot of difference of views and thinking.
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woojong
Junior Member
Come to the darkside...we have cookies 8D
Posts: 85
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Post by woojong on May 22, 2015 23:06:08 GMT
My book is about a young girl on a weird adventure, and the author while he was alive really liked children, so much that some people accuse him as a pedophile. I guess because he loved children he wrote a novel about a child on an adventure.
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woori
Junior Member
Posts: 79
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Post by woori on May 23, 2015 14:16:13 GMT
My book is made for one person who was the king of England, but then it affected to many people even now.
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woori
Junior Member
Posts: 79
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Post by woori on May 23, 2015 14:18:49 GMT
But I know one Japanese book that the author was a female, but she pretended to be a man. The reason why is because it was hard to be famous author for women in Japan at that time period.
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Post by hansoo on May 24, 2015 12:00:39 GMT
Based on people's replies, author does have a significant influence to readers... much more than I expected it would be!
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jason
Junior Member
Posts: 98
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Post by jason on May 24, 2015 12:54:36 GMT
Honestly it doesn't make any difference. It is a meta. It is a awareness inside of an awareness.
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Post by elisalee on May 24, 2015 14:20:22 GMT
I think it does make a difference depending on the gender of the author. Although sexism has been somewhat equalised, there are some people who still have stereotypes on the gender roles. Some people might think that the story will not be as good as the story that a male author wrote.
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Post by danielkim on May 28, 2015 0:41:24 GMT
The author is an important factor to the literature. His/her belief, opinion, and the view toward the society affect how the literature is written. For example, the book about feminism is definitely affected by the gender and opinion of the author.
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