RFI: Existential lit with female protagonists

What are some works fitting this description? All the major works I've read of this type (and of most other types, I guess) have male leads.

Not sure whether or not it technically counts as "existential lit", but I think The Crying of Lot 49 touches on a lot of the same basic themes.

http://www.leksikon-yu-mitologije.net/files/ModestyBlaise.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/22/35067275_5c7ee48be1.jpg?v=0

http://images.google.com/url?q=http://www.sweden.se/upload/Sweden_se/english/articles/SI/images/Pippi%2520L%C3%A5ngstrump/Pippi.L.jpg&usg=AFQjCNFeib5SjeaIvbJKKo5m8ktB4lWmpw

http://cdn.harpercollins.com/harperimages/isbn/large/7/9780060935467.jpg

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/14610000/14618759.JPG

http://www.ackerfilm.com/buchcover/04.gif

http://nogoodforme.filmstills.org/images/weetziebat.jpg

http://www.illiterarty.com/files/www.illiterarty.com/img/145/carrie.jpg

http://parkhurstrarebooks.com/pb.2399.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/JohnNichols_TheSterileCuckoo_First.jpg

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/11830000/11834941.jpg

http://www.bocadoinferno.com/romepeige/lite/assombracao.jpg

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/BOOK/BD00F~The-Prime-of-Miss-Jean-Brodie-by-Muriel-Spark-Posters.jpg

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/1593760590.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51E2P3KJVSL._SS500_.jpg

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/7d/42/4f21024128a0823206420110.L.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516H4VRQBWL._SS500_.jpg

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/21/81/356e024128a095a653e06010.L.jpg

http://www.bookendsusedbooks.com/shop_image/product/29960.jpg

Bloody hell.

http://www.textbooksrus.com/book_pics_large/0441012981.jpg

^^^yes

There is a new printing of "Child Of All Nations" by Irmgard Keun which has a lot of Existential themes. The main character, Kully, lacks a penis. The book lacks very little.

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/37/1a/6dda225b9da05ce24e2e4110.L.jpg

not that wittgenstein was an existentialist y'unnerstan

This thread has made me completely unsure what "existential lit" might mean.

is janet frame not kind of otm?

I can't think of any existential lit with female protagonists -- not in the classic mode of Dostoevsky, Camus, Hamsun, etc. Janet Frame's writing definitely doesn't seem like existentialist lit to me. Most existentialist lit is kind of 'man vs society'. I just can't think of anything.. maybe women's problems are still too basic and engulfing, still too overwhelming, to have developed to that level ...

i guess i was thinking of it as being more man feeling apart from society + that seems like it sums up the janet frame i've read pretty well.

and i dont quite get what you mean by women's problems being too basic and overwhelming

yeah, lol @ that

have you read jane bowles' two serious ladies?

I assume you're up to date on your flannery o'connor.

anybody have any de beauvoir recommends? she wrote a ton of books but I've only ever read the second sex.

i'm actually more into vague dissatisfaction and ennui, which is why i've read so much lorrie moore, alice munro, ann beattie, joy williams, anne tyler, and mary gaitskill.

and, okay, most of those books i posted pictures of wouldn't be considered "existential". on the other hand, tons of the women writers i adore (including the ones i just mentioned), from elizabeth taylor (no, not that one) to muriel spark wrote books that were basically about one woman -vs- the world. books about women trying to define and shape their world and life on THEIR terms, instead of having others do it for them. wait, are feminism and existentialism the same thing?

just re-read this and though there are two main characters - one male and one female - i think camus would have approved:

http://www.salon.com/books/review/1999/06/16/fox/mc_fox.gif

so, really, to me, a lot of fiction in the 20th and 21st century written by women would fit the mold of the classic existential struggle for meaning beyond god/church/state/etc. a struggle for personal freedom. (personal choice to be this or that, blah, blah...)

OK, based on that last post Scott has excellent taste in books (ie the same as mine).

anybody have any de beauvoir recommends? she wrote a ton of books but I've only ever read the second sex.

'The Blood of Others' is pretty cool--French Resistance psychological/existential character exploration with hints of thrillerness

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3077/2288998732_d74bfda1a0.jpg

"from elizabeth taylor (no, not that one) to muriel spark wrote books that were basically about one woman -vs- the world"

ouch, need to clarify. they sometimes did this. not always by any means. they had lots of tricks up their sleeves.

le sang des autres, I think I read this? maybe? the title + description sound hazily familiar...

anais nin's cities of the interior is pretty reet, not sure how existential it is tho.

OK, based on that last post Scott has excellent taste in books (ie the same as mine).

otm i always take notice when he recommends something. i have to pick up some elizabeth taylor (not that one)

oh she's great! such a fine writer and she could be so emotionally devastating.

here's a nice piece that came out about her last year:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200709/editors-choice

(all the old virago paperback reissue covers of her books didn't do her justice though. so flowery and lady-like. she was so much fiercer than that. i can imagine people passing them by every day in the used bins.)

ok i've just ordered that story collection they recommend, the devastating boys.

have you read anything else by paula fox? i've only read desperate characters + i loved it but i'm just wondering if there's other stuff that's as good.

Paula Fox: 'Poor George' is also excellent
Elizabeth Taylor: she is just brilliant. 'At Mrs Lippincote's' is a particular favourite, but you really can't go wrong with any of them.

(all the old virago paperback reissue covers of her books didn't do her justice though. so flowery and lady-like. she was so much fiercer than that. i can imagine people passing them by every day in the used bins.)

my early 80s copy of margaret drabble's the ice age is sorta like this - it has a cheezeball romance novel-like illustration of the main characters on the cover. I should scan this one, can't find a picture of it online.

which reminds me: margaret drabble's the ice age.

Re: Paula Fox. I loved Desperate Characters,Poor George and the first memoir, but I haven't quite been able to finish anything else of hers that I started. What should I try next or give another chance?

Anyway, Wittgenstein's Mistress is a good answer. You might say she is the ultimate existentialist.

Does Clarice Lispector count here?

do f/32 and/or kathy acker count?

i'm actually more into vague dissatisfaction and ennui

I run screaming from this stuff, I can't imagine anything I would enjoy reading about LESS except maybe, like, Brett Easton Ellis-type material.

However, Paula Fox's The Widow's Children was given to me, and I did read it. I think I missed almost everything significant that happened or was represented, but I read it and it did shift some things around in my head.

That was one I never got around to finishing.

here's the cover of my copy of the ice age

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/ice_age_drabble.jpg

lol

complete with pervy backcover blurbs

"penetrating and sensuous" quoth the washington post

omg why does that look amazing

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/greatest-book-covers/52-1.jpg

http://bp3.blogger.com/_hvV0JHPYX_I/R8PEycQFeHI/AAAAAAAAAUo/M-0n0McgGMc/s1600-h/deb.jpg
http://bp3.blogger.com/_hvV0JHPYX_I/R8PEycQFeHI/AAAAAAAAAUo/M-0n0McgGMc/s1600-h/deb.jpg

wow that cover of the ice age is hilarious