“The Men’s Room” by Ann Oakley: Characters had “tendency to lead independent lives, and dictate to their author,” the essence of alternate personalities

Ann Oakley, an eminent sociologist, is also a novelist (1). Her best-known novel, The Men’s Room (2), was made into a miniseries on television (3).

I have just read The Men’s Room and found nothing in it suggestive of multiple personality. But one of Professor Oakley’s subsequent novels, Only Angels Forget, was published under a pseudonym (1), which may indicate authorship by an alternate personality. (Search “pseudonyms” for past posts on this recurring subject.)

When are an author’s characters equivalent to alternate personalities? Characters have the essence of alternate personalities when the author experiences them as autonomous, as leading independent lives, and as even trying to dictate to the author what can happen in the novel, which Professor Oakley reports in an interview:

“I have always written fiction, beginning as a small child…

“I could say that the main difference for me between writing fiction and nonfiction is that the former doesn't have footnotes. Having just finished a nonfiction book with 1,081 of them, it is easy to say that fiction-writing can be an immense relief. But I have been interested to discover that writing fiction doesn't offer the complete freedom of the imagination that one would suppose. The characters that are created have a tendency to lead independent lives, and to dictate to their authors what they say and do and what can happen in a novel. For example, I spent a long time in my novel The Men’s Room trying to get the main male character to leave his wife, but he simply wouldn't do it until it was the right time for him…” (4).

1. Wikipedia. “Ann Oakley.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Oakley

2. Ann Oakley. The Men’s Room. London, Virago, 1988.

3. Wikipedia. “The Men’s Room.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Men's_Room

4. Ann Oakley. “Writing Fiction as a Sociologist: an Interview with Ann Oakley.” The Sociological Review, 13 January 2018. https://www.thesociologicalreview.com/blog/writing-fiction-as-a-sociologist-an-interview-with-ann-oakley.html