Nothing's exclusive

Chinese young readers have a talk with French author Agnes Desarthe (first from right) in Beijing in early March. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Like many woman writers, Desarthe does not like to be labeled a "woman writer".

Being a woman is a fact that you cannot and should not overlook, Desarthe says.

"For centuries and centuries, men were the writers, mainly writing about men or women but from a male point of view," she says.

"I told myself, well, that's your job. Now that you are a writer. You should write about women from a feminine point of view or about men from a feminine point of view."

But writing about men comes easily to Desarthe because like most other women in this world, she grew up reading mostly about male characters in books. And now, creating a female character for her novels is "like doing it from scratch" because in literary history most were created by men.

"I feel politically drawn to (the responsibility). I should write about women, as a woman and for women", she says.

In her last novel, Ce Coeur Changeant (a changing heart), she wrote about the different stages in a woman's life.

"I realize babies were absent from literature because it was written by men who didn't interact much with them, especially in the old times. Literature lacked this character," she says.

Contact the writer at yangyangs@chinadaily.com.cn