andrew_gelman_stats andrew_gelman_stats-2010 andrew_gelman_stats-2010-174 knowledge-graph by maker-knowledge-mining
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Introduction: What can we learn about an author from his or her fiction? This is an old, old question, I know. But I still can’t help thinking about it when I read a book. John Updike ‘s stories are full of male characters whom women find irresistibly attractive. I can only assume that this reflects Updike’s own experiences, to some extent. If he had not been, in reality, catnip to women, I imagine he’d have made more of a big deal about the episodes in his books where women kept falling into his protagonists’ laps. Same for John D. Macdonald , although there I suppose it’s possible he was just throwing in the sex to sell books. And even more so for Richard Ford . This guy’s male characters are so smooth, there’s no way that Ford isn’t/wasn’t like that too. What about Lorrie Moore? I think she must have had a very frustrating life (so far). I say this because her stories always seem to be centered around a female character who is witty, thoughtful, and refined, and surrounded by re
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1 John Updike ‘s stories are full of male characters whom women find irresistibly attractive. [sent-4, score-0.875]
2 I can only assume that this reflects Updike’s own experiences, to some extent. [sent-5, score-0.185]
3 If he had not been, in reality, catnip to women, I imagine he’d have made more of a big deal about the episodes in his books where women kept falling into his protagonists’ laps. [sent-6, score-0.606]
4 Macdonald , although there I suppose it’s possible he was just throwing in the sex to sell books. [sent-8, score-0.223]
5 This guy’s male characters are so smooth, there’s no way that Ford isn’t/wasn’t like that too. [sent-10, score-0.433]
6 I think she must have had a very frustrating life (so far). [sent-12, score-0.271]
7 I say this because her stories always seem to be centered around a female character who is witty, thoughtful, and refined, and surrounded by really piggy guys. [sent-13, score-0.723]
8 And I can only assume that Franz Kafka had some frustrating experiences in his life as well. [sent-14, score-0.584]
9 For example, Jane Smiley’s characters are all over the place, as are J. [sent-16, score-0.26]
10 I can’t see how I could draw many conclusions about their personal experiences from their books. [sent-18, score-0.348]
11 Lots and lots of writers are like this: you get a sense of their sensibilities but not really of their experiences. [sent-19, score-0.368]
12 Maybe that’s why cases such as John Updike and Lorrie Moore are so interesting, that they seem to be revealing, perhaps unintentionally, bits of themselves? [sent-20, score-0.19]
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Introduction: What can we learn about an author from his or her fiction? This is an old, old question, I know. But I still can’t help thinking about it when I read a book. John Updike ‘s stories are full of male characters whom women find irresistibly attractive. I can only assume that this reflects Updike’s own experiences, to some extent. If he had not been, in reality, catnip to women, I imagine he’d have made more of a big deal about the episodes in his books where women kept falling into his protagonists’ laps. Same for John D. Macdonald , although there I suppose it’s possible he was just throwing in the sex to sell books. And even more so for Richard Ford . This guy’s male characters are so smooth, there’s no way that Ford isn’t/wasn’t like that too. What about Lorrie Moore? I think she must have had a very frustrating life (so far). I say this because her stories always seem to be centered around a female character who is witty, thoughtful, and refined, and surrounded by re
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