# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/21 "2014-12-08T23:18:29Z")
AIRC Octavia Butler has written several, among them _Parable of the Sower_, right? ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/22 "2014-12-08T23:51:48Z")
C.S. Lewis: _Till We Have Faces_. His best novel, and one of my overall favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/23 "2014-12-09T00:30:28Z")
_Iron Heel_ by Jack London which is in many ways a Marxist version of _Atlas Shrugged_. ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/24 "2014-12-09T00:52:36Z")
_The Poisonwood Bible_ is narrated by five different women. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/25 "2014-12-09T08:19:11Z")
_Spoon River Anthology_ is told entirely in snippets of first-person narrative by multiple characters, many of them female, all of them dead. I haven’t read any of Amy Yamada’s novels, but her short story “Bend Down and Lick My Feet” was the first-person story of a sex worker. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/26 "2014-12-09T08:25:06Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > 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… It’s narrated by the second (and unnamed) Mrs. deWinter. Rebecca was the late, first Mrs. deWinter. Mr. deWinter was some kind of rich, titled British peer. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/27 "2014-12-09T08:37:16Z")
Atwood’s **The Handmaid’s Tale** , I think. And Plath’s **The Bell Jar**. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/28 "2014-12-09T09:20:46Z")
**Gerald’s Game** by Stephen King. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/29 "2014-12-09T09:35:37Z")
[Les Liaisons Dangereuses](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Liaisons_dangereuses) (“Dangerous Liaisons”), an epistolary novel by Choderlos de Laclos, is written partly from the perspective of some female characters. ---
**Author:** ![yo\_han\_go](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yo_han_go/32/130_2.png) [@yo\_han\_go](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yo_han_go)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/30 "2014-12-09T12:04:44Z")
If you are also into Sci-Fi thrillers, you my try WWW Trilogy: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWW\_Trilogy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWW_Trilogy) ---
**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 9, 2014, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/31 "2014-12-09T13:27:14Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > 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. > [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > It’s narrated by the second (and unnamed) Mrs. deWinter. Rebecca was the late, first Mrs. deWinter. Mr. deWinter was some kind of rich, titled British peer. Thank you both. I’ll be the first to say that my memory is just godawful, but if nothing else it prompts me to have to read the book again! \What a twist!\ ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/32 "2014-12-09T13:31:41Z")
I recently had the treat of reading _True Grit_ for the first time. The narrator is a woman. I didn’t know it was such a superb book or I’d have read it years ago. Another Charlotte Bronte first-person novel: _Villette_. It’s a favorite of mine. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/33 "2014-12-09T13:33:19Z")
Faulkner’s _As I Lay Dying_ is told from several points of view. One of them, if I recall correctly, is the dead mother’s. ---
**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 9, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/34 "2014-12-09T18:48:58Z")
Robert Heinlein’s _Friday_ ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/35 "2014-12-09T19:41:45Z")
A substantial part of Anne of Windy Poplars, by L.M. Montgomery, consists of letters written by the heroine. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/36 "2014-12-09T20:20:35Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Robert Heinlein’s _Friday_ Let us not forget _Podkayne of Mars_. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/37 "2014-12-09T20:31:39Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Robert Heinlein’s _Friday_ > [@silenus](#): > > Let us not forget _Podkayne of Mars_. And half the narrators of _The Number of the Beast_ - which like it or not does exist 😃 ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/38 "2014-12-09T20:42:33Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Katniss is the first-person narrator of the books in \*\*\*The Hunger Games \*\*\*series, isn’t she? Yes, and this is actually a solid example because it’s a rather good use of first-person narrative, at least in the first people. The world-building of the setting is handled really organically, because the wool is being pulled from the protagonist’s eyes and you’re along for the ride. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/39 "2014-12-09T20:49:20Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > Faulkner’s _As I Lay Dying_ is told from several points of view. One of them, if I recall correctly, is the dead mother’s. No, she never says anything. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/40 "2014-12-09T20:54:20Z")
If it hasn’t already been mentioned, Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood, and also one of my very favorite obscure novels, The Hearing Trumpet, by Leonora Carrington. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691.md?page=3)