# Female first-person literature? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691 "2014-12-08T20:21:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/1 "2014-12-08T20:21:02Z")
I’m trying to think of some famous literature that is written from a first-person perspective, but with a female main character. I can’t think of any! Perhaps it’s just a matter of my choice of reading material being slanted. Can anyone else come up with any? And if there really is a paucity of this type of work, why would that be? ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/2 "2014-12-08T20:30:31Z")
_Rebecca_ by Daphne du Maurier ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/3 "2014-12-08T20:33:39Z")
One of my favorite books ever: _Jane Eyre_. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/4 "2014-12-08T20:33:42Z")
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/5 "2014-12-08T20:35:06Z")
I see I’ve been ninja’ed on _Jane Eyre_. Dickens’s _Bleak House_ has some chapters narrated by a female first-person narrator, while others are third-person omniscient. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/6 "2014-12-08T20:35:21Z")
Too late on **Jane Eyre** , so I’ll save with Jasper fforde’s **The Eyre Affair** (and sequels). **Wuthering Heights** ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/7 "2014-12-08T20:37:38Z")
The V.I. Warshawski novels by Sara Paretsky. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/8 "2014-12-08T20:41:08Z")
Now that I think about it, there’s Defoe’s _Moll Flanders_ and, if epistolary novels count, Richardson’s _Clarissa_, so this goes back to the earliest English novels. More recent examples are plentiful, depending on where you set the bar for “famous.” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/9 "2014-12-08T20:41:43Z")
Harper Lee’s\*\*\* To Kill a Mockingbird.\*\*\* WIllkie Collins’ \*\*\*The Woman in White \*\*\*has many narrators, some of whom are female. Margaret Atwood’s _ **The Handmaid’s Tale.** _ Alice Walker’s _ **The Color Purple** _ ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/10 "2014-12-08T20:45:09Z")
The last chapter of _Ulysses_. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/11 "2014-12-08T20:46:54Z")
Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone mysteries (_A is for Alibi_, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/12 "2014-12-08T20:49:33Z")
The Hunger Games trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/13 "2014-12-08T20:50:34Z")
Thanks, gang. I guess it’s just my incomplete education! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/14 "2014-12-08T20:52:05Z")
Katniss is the first-person narrator of the books in \*\*\*The Hunger Games \*\*\*series, isn’t she? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/15 "2014-12-08T20:58:12Z")
_To Kill a Mockingbird_ And these are famous if you had any exposure to the 70’s feminist movement. _Fear of Flying_ by Erica Jong _The Women’s Room_ by Marilyn French ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/16 "2014-12-08T21:15:00Z")
> [@Weedy](#): > > _Rebecca_ by Daphne du Maurier Since this hasn’t been corrected I’m assuming it’s right, but I thought the story was narrated by the potential sutor? ETA: Nevermind, I think I remember now. A new maid right? Man I loved this book and I can’t remember a damn thing about it… ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/17 "2014-12-08T21:22:58Z")
Out of Africa and Memoirs of a Geisha are both first-person narratives. \*\* Sir T-Cups\*\*:\*Rebecca \*is narrated by Maxim de Winter’s second wife. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/18 "2014-12-08T21:52:09Z")
Some of _Dracula_ is narrated by Mina and Lucy, too. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/19 "2014-12-08T21:54:13Z")
_Melting Stones_ Tamora Pierce ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/20 "2014-12-08T22:01:23Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > … if epistolary novels count, Richardson’s _Clarissa_, so this goes back to the earliest English novels. Another epistolary novel by the same author, and rather more readable, is [Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela;_or,_Virtue_Rewarded). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691.md?page=2)