Sunday, August 24, 2008

Khaled Hosseini: Writing from a Woman's Perspective


Writing from a woman’s perspective for a male author is often a topic of discussion for literary critics and book reviewers. Listen to Khaled Hosseini talk about writing his novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns. Check his website, and click on the link, “Writing from a Female Perspective,” to hear what he has to say about the challenge of writing not just from one woman's perspective but two.
Overall, after reading the novel, do you think he succeeds in capturing an authentic female perspective? Does his explanation convince you?
At Hosseini's website, you also find a link, “Becoming a Writer.” Check out the link to find out how he became a writer in spite of being a science major in college and going on to medical school to become a doctor. What do you like about Hosseini’s approach to writing? What do you learn from him about ways to become a successful writer? In general, how does exploring his website help you to understand him not just as a writer but also as a person? And, how does a visit to the site increase your appreciation for our common reading, A Thousand Splendid Suns?

http://www.khaledhosseini.com/

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Khaled Hosseini succeded in conveying a realistic female perspective. Although I think his strategy to view his character as real people is valid, I think hearing authentic stories from Afghani women might have been more helpful. This is because he could take in their reactions as they told the stories and then project these emotions into this own writing.

I admire that he is a self-taught writer and that he write because it is his passion, not for extrinsic purposes. I agree with his strategy of re-writing multiple times, but I've always written with some sort of an outline in front of me. Overall I A Thousand Splendid Suns was an effective work regardless of the writing process.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was incredible how well Hosseini wrote the novel from a female perspective. Personally, I have trouble trying to figure out the thoughts of the opposite sex, yet if I had not known Khaled Hosseini was a man, I would've thought it was a female writer.

Anonymous said...

I thought the author did a better job in writing from the woman's perspective in "One Thousabd Spendid Suns" than when he wrote from the little boys perspective in "The Kite Runner". If I didn't know, I would have assumed the author was a female.

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