I got into an argument with my boyfriend about gender and literature...

I got into an argument with my boyfriend about gender and literature. He asked me to name a masterpiece written by a woman and I couldn't actually come up with any works that are considered masterpieces.

What masterpieces have women written, Veeky Forums?

my diary desu

this t.b.h

Pride and Prejudice, of course

I don't think it's a masterpiece, it's a pretty good work but it's nothing like Homor or Shakespeare.

the princess of cleves

The Waves.

The Secret History

the waves

As much as most people hate it, Atlas Shrugged might as well be a masterpiece.

Behind every man there is a woman (if not his whore wife atleast he has a mom)

>dumb people dating

post pics of your bf

This as far as I know. Otherwise there aren't any others.

Maybe To The Lighthouse as well? The Brontes are good but not masterpieces, and Austen is good but not masterful either.

Miss Macintosh, My Darling
The Waves
To the Lighthouse
Middlemarch

Homer's work isnt noted for its literary merit. He never wrote any masterpieces.

>He never wrote any masterpieces.
Undergraduate.

...

Why would you talk about genre and literature if you don't know shit about it?

To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Dalloway (it's secretly her best desu), The Waves

Define masterpiece?

I mean, if we're just talking books that are considered part of the western canon, have had a meaningful impact on literature, and which are taught at universities, then: Virginia Woolf 'To The Lighthouse'

If we're talking older books which have had a significant impact on the cultural zeitgeist, which resonate with reader, and which continue to be read even today, then: Mary Shelley 'Frankenstein.'

If we're talking ultra-hip, modern, genre-defining authors who accurately capture the modern condition, and who have sold hundreds of thousands of copies of their book whilst maintaining academic interest in their work, then: Zadie Smith, 'White Teeth.'

These are just off the top of my head. Jane Austen, the Brontes, Octavia Butler, Sylvia Plath and Harper Lee also come to mind.

Also what's the show in the image? It's ringing some distant bell of childhood, but I can't remember what it's called.

I guarantee I have read more than you. The examples being thrown around in this thread are not masterpieces, maybe Middlemarch but that's a stretch.

The Tale of Genji
Frankenstein
Wuthering Heights
To Kill a Mockingbird (maybe, jury's still out on that one)

>that are considered masterpieces
By whom? What do you mean by masterpiece?

Angela anaconda

It looks like she's using her own subjective taste to define masterpiece, making posting in this thread a pointless exercise.

>Frankenstein
>Wuthering Heights
>To Kill a Mockingbird
>masterpieces

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

*deep breath*

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

>how to discard your own opinion and lose all credibility in a single word

Thanks. I fucking hated that show, but watching it was better than watching nothing.

I know it's bait, but Flannery O'Connor is god-tier.

A well thought out, comprehensive counter-argument.

That is one sexy post bb. Good answer.

Good set of books. Bit plebby high school tier but then OP is not even that. The last one is only debateable in light of the sequel.

What marvels of lit do you read then?

Decent post.

he gave as much of an argument against your dumb list as you gave for it

Homer definitely did not write anything in the same way that Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice. He probably didn't even write it in a cold mechanical sense considering he may well have been blind. So "he" recited an old story to someone.

Waves, lighthouse, middlemarch

Also, epin bait

Why are we arguing for the suggestions now?

>Homer's work isnt noted for its literary merit. He never wrote any masterpieces.
>thinks women are good authors
Girl detected.

Girls need to get the fuck out desu

many, but your boyfriend will never know them

>He probably didn't even write it in a cold mechanical sense considering he may well have been blind.

We don't even have any idea who Homer is, or even if he's just one person. What basis do you have for "he may well have been blind"?

Also just because a work has its origins in oral history doesn't magically mean it can't be a masterpiece. It was a story that reverberated with the Greeks for fucking centuries.

agatha christie is my favourite.

Thanks DFW

If you're so well read why couldn't you give your boyfriend an answer? You must have big tits because it's not your sharp mind men are attracted to.

>wanting leather skinned outdoor girls
>not raising indoor veal skinned girls

>It was a story that reverberated with the Greeks for fucking centuries.
Because it was a historical account surrounding their early society and culture. They used Homer's works as a kind of semi legal document to decide political disputes and such. It in fact holds several details that tally well with archaeological evidence so it's really not Homer's creation by any stretch.

Demodokos has been considered as a self insert for a long time. That idea dates back to antiquity, but whether it's true or not who knows.

I don't think there are any masterpieces written by women because there are so many works written by men that eclipse even the best of women's writing. When you stack them up with the works written by men it is disingenuous to call them masterpieces- unless of course you want to expand the definition of a masterpiece to the point at which the word has no meaning.

By your own admittance Tale of Genji then satisfies OP's conditions?

Also how the fuck is Frankenstein not a masterpiece

What were you even arguing about then?

>i have no understanding of how a guild works or the origins of the term masterpiece
>surely they kick out the old masters when the apprentices qualify
i don't know how to fix your broken thinking so good luck to the user you're talking to

She wrote one masterpiece over and over and over again.

Not OP, but you are an autistic retard. Get the fuck off my board.

>It in fact holds several details that tally well with archaeological evidence

What are you referring to?

>how dare someone know what words mean on Veeky Forums
ikr it's like people don't just buy books as ornaments, fucking queers

Yeah Tale of Genji is p. good. Frankenstein is a fricking dimestore novel.

did you read the percy edit of frankenstein or some shit?

You can use fucking google m8

Inb4 they watched the movie.

lol didn't even consider that tbph

I'm asking you, because I know for a fact that there isn't any archaeological evidence that tallies well with anything in Homer. Even Troy VII likely isn't the site of the Troy in the Iliad, and that was the best thing going for it.

I'm gonna check this out, thanks

middlemarch

jane eyre

>checking out a book just because the author is female

If you didn't appreciate Frankenstein then you didn't understand Frankenstein. Reread it. If you still don't understand it, read 'Romanticism: An Oxford Guide' and then reread it. If you still don't appreciate it, you're beyond help.

She is asking for books by female authors

U even Veeky Forums

Genji Monogatari definitely a masterpiece.

Yeah, I'm sure the German artistic movement of Romanticism found its highest expression in a come-lately English aristocrat's wife writing self-indulgent tripe about ludicrous monsters.

Fuck off you armchair twat and read something. Your post there is fucking retarded.

Anything written by Flannery O'Connor.

Anything by Eudora Welty

Song of Solomon by Toni Morisson

Just off the top of my head. Your bf seems like a douchebag but you seem like a dumbass too so I guess it was meant to be.

>I never learned Homeric greek

You are beyond help.

You're a pleb.

>German
Are you an actual /pol/tard getting your info from twitter schizophrenics by any chance?

what the heck is lit infatuation with pol right now. it's such a cope out

At least you tried

You zoomed in on one aspect that's like a 19thC bit of conjecture. Which you them derided when it probably has legs on some level.

The Age of Innocence and a few others by Edith Wharton. Honestly, your boyfriend sounds like a real pill

>cope out
Anyway, you retards are coming from somewhere.

>attacks typos
>on Veeky Forums

I'm pretty sure you came from reddit.

Every fucking day. "My definition of 'great' or 'masterpiece' doesn't include any works by women. Prove me wrong." Piss off, and stop pretending to be female.

How would that be a typo?

The Veeky Forums being unconcerned with correct language idea is also amusing. There's a reason for the Le Reddit meme.

also Memoirs of Hadrian.

Tale of Genji is probably the most high tier, civ defining work by a woman though. unless homer or shakespeare were women, both possibilities espoused by limp wristed professors I have had.

thanks for defending me

>Jane Eyre
>To Kill A Mockingbird
>Pride And Prejudice
>Atlas Shrugged

There's 4

If you're talking to a teenager they'd probably say 'Muh Hunger Games' or 'Muh Harry Potter'

Attacking people for typos, spelling mistakes, or grammatical errors is the lowes form of argument and also pure reddit behavior, you've been found out, just stop posting. Go back to r/books.

who's better emily bronte or charlotte bronte

>the lowes form of argument
Nothing wrong with the arguments at Lowe's. It's amazing how those hardware guys are buttblasting you so hard.

Calling To The Lighthouse a 'masterpiece' is a pretty big stretch

Anne.

here have an upvote

>mfw I'm 80 years older and Harry Potter is an accepted part of the Western canon while my masterpieces lay about unpublished

I don't get the reference.

The Fountainhead

Atlas Shrugged

Most popular books are forgotten. It doesn't look like Rowling is another Christie so she'll just fade into obscurity eventually.

>he never wrote any masterpieces
Correct on a technicality.

It's not even a form of argument, it's just K-12-autism or trolling

Only time will tell, I guess. Hopefully I die before that point, should that point ever exist in the future.

are you serious
your criticisms of Frankenstein could be equally applied to Tale of Genji
Genji was a serial novel written by a noblewoman for other noblewomen to read, it was basically an ancient soap opera

Genji Monogatari.

... not much else though. Or, anything at all.

...

You're arguing with people who haven't read dick bro, there's no point. Most of the male authors they think they'd like they probably wouldn't, and the old books they think are possible contenders for female like Genji are not as high literature as they believe.

Frankenstein however is fucking genius, there's no way around it.