“The Women’s Room” (post 2) by Marilyn French: The author’s relationship with her characters may be based on her multiple personality trait

In post 1, the author’s main character had been the woman, Mira, who eventually married the man, Norm. Another female character who has been mentioned is Val.

Apparently, in the author’s subjective experience, Mira, Norm, and Val were not merely her literary puppets, but, rather, alternate personalities, which I define as such, because they have minds and wills of their own:

“The thing that bothers me—or if truth be told, the thing that bothers Val, since she won’t go away—is that these qualities [of men and women] that appeal to us in each other have nothing to do with reality. Maybe it’s our culture, Val, that posits such a relationship as desirable. Please go away [Val]. Just for a little while…(1, p. 65).

“…I feel as if Val were curling up the edges of the letters even as I type them. If you want to write letters of complaint about my handling of Norm, please address them to her” (1, p. 66). 

Comment: Some literary critics might label the above as a literary technique, metafiction, but I think the author was sincere, because, for example, in the past, when I saw that author Gabriel García Márquez had been described by critics as using the literary technique of “magic realism,” I quoted García Márquez in a past post as denying it. It appears that some critics invent terms to explain away genuine psychological experiences.

1. Marilyn French. The Women’s Room (a novel). New York, Penguin Books, 1977/2009.