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October 30, 2003

OGIC: I'm twice the boy you are!

Dear Terry:

The Gender Genie is quite insistent: I write like a man. No matter what I feed it. I believe this will surprise you.

As for your critical andogyny, I can only surmise that the theater brings out your feminine side while music cues the testosterone. Nineteenth-century detractors of the novel routinely labeled narrative literature as feminine (and thus decadent) while lauding lyric poetry as a properly manly form. Without endorsing such dusty dichotomies, I wonder whether the Gender Genie--if we even trust it as far as we can throw it--is picking up on some difference in the way you respond to and describe narrative and non-narrative art? This seems like a stretch, but it's all I've got!

Of course, I was disappointed to find that the Genie's methods are not, at a glance, much more sophisticated than counting words. A self-respecting genie should work in more mysterious ways.

Posted October 30, 2003 12:33 PM

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