Who is the most influential female writer?

Question

I'm back! Take that Y!A and trolling buffoons! You can't hold a girl down.

So in the spirit of being back, I'll ask a question.

Who do you think is the most influential female writer in history? She doesn't have to be a feminist, she just has to be a very influential woman. Why do you think she is the most influential? If possible post some links to her works.

Thank you! Good day!

Answer 1

I reckon the most influential must be Simone de Beauvoir, not on me, but on world culture.  Second would be Virginia Woolf.  Woolf and Anais Nin were the most influential female writers on me, along with an Australian poet, Judith Wright.  Here's a link to a poem by Wright, a wonderful evocation of a particular part of the Australian landscape:  http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/south-of-...

Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen must be in the top 10.

Answer 2

Virginia Wolf.

Answer 3

cokie roberts, betty friedman, virginia wolf, plath, edna st millay (did i get that right?), naomi wolf, diane russell (chalice & blade author, maybe i got her last name wrong?)....

gosh, too many!

most influential? hard to choose. maybe friedman, she was an impetus to the (thank-god-it-happened) women's movement.

Answer 4

Welcome back!

Fiction: I love Jane Austen - I've read all of her books-she's a classic and very readable. Who else could have almost all of her books made into movies-and who's books are still being made into movies today? She's very sarcastic about the "manners" of the wealthy and priviledged. I'd start with Pride and Prejudice (available at any library).

Mystery: Even though it sounds weird-Agatha Christie revolutionized the mystery writing field and paved the way for Marcia Muller who started the female PI mystery writing phenonmen. Soon after Muller started writing other female authors capitalized on women readers needing female role models like Susan Grafton; Sara Paretsky; and Patricia Cornwell. Women mystery writers are about the only women who make it to the top of the Fiction writer lists other than romance writers. I highly suggest Marcia Muller and do try to start with her first books-they're all excellent: http://www.marciamuller.com/

Sci-Fi: Octavia Butler is absolutely fantastic. Her books are incredibly diverse and imaginative. I liked her first series but they are all excellent: Xenogenesis Series: Dawn (1987) Adulthood Rights (1988) and Imago (1989):

http://biology.kenyon.edu/slonc/books/bu...

Feminist books: I think this book explains the ugliness in the GWS forum: Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi http://www.susanfaludi.com/

Make you laugh like crazy: Six of One by Rita Mae Brown

http://www.amazon.com/Six-One-Rita-Mae-B...

I have the book "Women" by Annie Leibovitz with amazing photos of famous and not-so-famous women.

http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/cosmo15...

Answer 5

jaquiline wilson

Answer 6

as a writer myself, Sylvia Plath inspired me the most.

Answer 7

There are so many, it's hard just to name a few!

PROSE:

Ursula K Le Guin, in contemporary times.

Toni Morrison

Virginia Woolf

Jane Austen

As previously mentioned, Sylvia Plath (who's also a poet)

Simone DeBeauvoir

The Brontë sisters

The writer of what was arguably the world's first novel-- The Tale of Genji-- was Murasaki Shikibu.

POETRY:

First people to come to mind are:

Emily Dickinson

Maya Angelou

Phillis Wheatly.

Sorry if I misspelled any names.

Unfortunately, I can't limit it to just one! There are so many wonderful writers out there, and they all had influences on very different forms of writing, so it's very hard to say!

Answer 8

Olympe de Gouges- a French female writer during the French revolution:

http://womenshistory.about.com/library/w...

Also, Virginia Woolf in the Twentieth Century.

Of course, Betty Friedan and Simone de Beauvoir.

Answer 9

The only one I know of is J K Rowling who wrote the Harry Potter books.

*hey why the thumbs down? what do you want me to do lie!

Answer 10

Dickinson and Angelou are pretty much the poetry queens. Plath  gets a lot of cred in the poetry corner, as well.