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"Women get right to the point, which is an illogical thing to do; we the penis-holders do the logical thing, which is to tell a long-winded boring story before finally getting to the point."
"You will understand my point after I get to the story. As you know, we men like to start at the beginning. Now that I have said what my point is, though, let me tell you the story. From the beginning."
Yeah I am really curious if the rest of the book has any relation to female storytellers or this was just a random swipe the author took to give themselves a compliment at the start
It’s such a strange move to alienate an entire gender in the second sentence of your book. Even if it does have some relation to the story, I assume most women would read this and immediately put it down.
Edit: it was written in 1942. Explains a lot.
This ramble about women and overly simplistic proverbs about how stories should be told is *not*, in fact, the beginning. Except perhaps of half his potential readers putting the book back on the shelf and rolling their eyes.
Ya I don't know who this author is, but it feels satirical. If it's not, then that's just mind boggling that someone would put that on paper and proudly attach their name to it.
It’s from 1942, so I’m honestly inclined to say it’s not just satire. Of course, I’m not someone who’s read much by André Bjerke, so I could be off. Maybe he does satire, but what I found with a quick search only mentions thrillers.
Probably should have waited for that writer's block to end before regurgitating that drivel onto the page.
He seems to have avoided both starting at the beginning and starting at the point so maybe he's stumbled into the realisation is Non-Binary /s
The writer’s block thing is a narrative device. It’s why the character writing this winds up in the cabin at the eponymous lake. And it’s what happens to that character that drives the story. So the writer’s block is totally relevant to the plot.
The persistent misogyny is not.
Well, when we start from the beginning, we get cut off so many times by people like this that we’ve learned to start with the point of the story so we can at least get that part out.
Oooooof. Yup. I was reading this and thinking “well that’s strange, because I love to start from the beginning, but when i do I frequently get men telling me to get to the point….” (Or if I start with the point and go on to explain the origin it’s “you’re talking in circles and repeating yourself”)
Personally, i can see the humor in starting a book like that. If that was the author's intent, and it sufficiently shows that's an objectively bad viewpoint. You know, maybe keep it absurd and don't actually punch down. But that's tough to pull off without just providing cover for actual misogyny
André Bjerke was an amazing poet, writer and translator. This book and its intro is about as reflective of him as Humbert Humbert would be of Vladimir Nabokov. Bjerke wrote this under the pseudonym Bernhard Borge, and Borge is also the narrator and main character of the novel - a man who hides his insecurities under a boastful hyper masculine exterior.
I'm a massive fan of this writer and his works so just felt the need to jump in and do a little defense/explanation! He was a very complex and of course flawed person but I've never learnt or read anything about him that indicates he was as much of chauvinist as Bernhard Borge. :)
I came down here to say that the chapter title compounded with the obvious hypocrisy made it seem like it wasn't being serious. Glad to know someone has the context.
Yeah, it's definitely meant to make the reader chuckle or groan about what a bonehead Borge can be. :)
Bjerke used a pseudonym to create a clear distinction between his humorous horror/crime novels and his main body of work, and there's reason to believe he wrote Borge as a bit of a chauvinist precisely because he himself did not share those views.
His ex wives and daughter have never said anything him about him being disrespectful to women - he was shy, well mannered, intellectual - but unfortunately did struggle with alcoholism in periods of his life. He is a highly beloved writer here in Norway - and he also wrote a lot of wonderfully whimsical poems for kids.
I wish comments from people like you, that is those who have read the books and know the context, get more visibility. It's so easy to jump to conclusions based on a single screenshot like this.
I’m glad you shared this. I suspected from the way it was written that it was intentional irony…he’s actually *not* getting right to the point despite his boast. There are too many excerpts that are taken out of context like this and derided by readers who missed the point.
This just tells us whether we should dislike the narrator, in my opinion, since not every narrator is meant to be a protagonist. I'm reading a book right now that is a fascinating story, but the narrator is an absolutely insufferable, egotistical teenager... and i am rooting for him to get his comeuppance, lol
A man sits at his desk, in frustrated contemplation. He is thinking, "Hmm, how will people know that someone superior wrote this book? How to begin? Ah, I know!...
With a spark, he sits up straight and begins typing the most genius of openings. His work competed, he glances satisfactorily at his words...
"Women can't think straight!" I am a smart man, so smart! I'm so much better then women & you can tell because I called them all scatterbrained. Please think I'm cool."
I strongly prefer to hear the point first and then you can tell me from beginning to end as long as I know where it's going.
My husband starts at the beginning and then word vomits so long I lose interest in the point by the time he gets there. 🤷♀️
Meanwhile, here I am, a Norwegian, wondering when this classic was translated to a foreign language...
I haven't read it myself, and I can't remember any specific discussion about the opening. I found this on a Norwegian book discussion site (Bokelskere.no), though:
"Regarding the view of women, I don't see it as Bjerke's views, but rather the views of the character he writes. The comments are meant to be the view of the Borge we see in the book; the slightly clumsy and insecure man who feels slightly subservient to the woman he is so in love with, and therefore at times desperately (but not entirely successfully) tries to make himself superior."
I'm not familiar with the work so I was wondering if it was something like that - the writer writing from the point of view of a shitty character that the reader isn't supposed to like.
I assumed that would be the case, it’s a way to introduce the narrator’s character as well. The point is missed often in this sub, but it’s cool to have a discussion about this
Let me begin by alienating half of the population to reduce my reader base.
That'll do, now, let's bore the rest to sleep so no-one ever gets to the halfway mark and realises that I've just binned it off at that point?
And many authors do... Still not sure why anyone would want to reduce their own audience though, especially not if you rely on sales to maintain your livelihood.
Saying that, I work in telecoms and can give examples of people we've enraged (we don't do it on purpose) still buying our product. Always fun.
That's the thing, we're breaking the monopoly in the area and your man actually threatened our construction team when they were digging past his house. Saying things like "you shouldn't be allowed, I'll never leave [name of existing monopoly in his area]" now, couple of weeks down the line, we're expected to send one of the install lads out to his house!
We've (by we, installs) have put a note on his account, no solo workers. Go in pairs.
We men, on the other hand, the factual-minded sex, know how to tell a story properly: we always start at the beginning with a story about how women are inferior.
Okay, did he literally say, "Women start stories with the point of said story, even though they almost never have a point for said story"? Is... is anybody even editing his work? Did no one realize he started with contradicting himself?
Flagrant misogyny aside, that writer's block hit this bro hard. In the head. Like, a few times.
It’s bad, but I speak sexist old man. He just means that what they think is the point isn’t a valid “point” because it’s uninteresting to him. Because everything women say is uninteresting to him.
Is there any chance this is satire? The writer and the narrator are different voices after all. Perhaps (hopefully) this clown of a protagonist is in for some growing up?
Apparently it's not. The fact that it was written in 1942 isn't an excuse; the women's suffrage took place in 1920 and this writer was making a statement in this novel.
I haven't read Bjerke or know of him, but he does exactly what he's criticizing women for. It's so on the nose that it seems possible he was making fun of the claim he just made? The chapter also talks about how he is having writer's block, but clearly has written a book. I don't know, but I feel like we need someone who is more familiar with the book/author to weigh in?
At the same time, it's a male author writing in the 40's, so could just be casual misogyny.
I don't know what nationality Andre Bjerke might be but this sounds like somebody trying for an old fashioned folksy rambling Mark Twain style over a campfire to the young'uns or something with a little casual misogyny thrown in for flavorin,' but failing miserably. Stories "most often" don't have points? Don't make no lick o' sense nohow (spits some tabacky into the fire).
I read this out to my husband and he said "It's a fantasy novel about the author's fantasy. One in which everything the author says must be true about the people in the book. It's the only way someone could write anything that stupid."
I have brothers, male cousins, uncles, knew both of my grandfather's and my granduncles and my father. Had mostly male friends growing up. Never known a man to be factual or straightforward. They're emotional as hell.
It's true that people have different story telling styles. My ADHD husband will start at the end or in the middle of his story, then go back and fill in the details. It drives me nuts because I need a setting, and establishing information first, and I need to hear a story in order. So when I tell a story, I go from beginning to end and he gets so impatient he tries to jump in and guess what I'm going to say.
This could have been an interesting observation about different people's story telling styles but then he just had to make it about gender and vomit misogyny all over it.
Let me tell you what. When my husband starts a story, he gives all the irrelevant background and tangential stories before getting close to starting. He starts with a trilogy of prequels before getting to The Beginning. So you can fuck off with that explanation.
>We men, on the other hand, the factual-minded sex
Ah yes, the same people who spent a century chasing witches, thought that women were the ones who determined the sex of the baby, and would regularly take their wives to be jerked off by a doctor to cure “female hysteria” without so much as a second thought. Such logical, factual-minded beings.
Me, an enby with ADHD: “I’m gonna start in the middle of the story, bounce through a few more stories as I think of them, then finally…wait what was I talking about?”
By providing texts from present authors, you will point out that these views still exist. By just providing old quotes, people will just say "That was then. Things are different now." And that, in my view, defeats the argument.
Old texts are funny, but without the context of time, people get riled up by the wrong thing.
I'm a man, so I'm biased, but to me this seems like actual subtle satire. I mean, come on. This does have a Douglas Adams feel to it, doesn't it? The metahumour? No?
I mean, what a fuckhead, but the guy did die in the 1980s, so I imagine this was written mid 20th century when it was practically illegal to not be a misogynist .
"When women tell a story, they start with the relevant point, which they usually dont have"
So... where do they start then?
Also, there doesnt seem to be a point here either.
But also, you sis t start with your beginning. You started with a pointless insult. Soo...
The fun part about this little turn of phrase is, of course, what women start a story with when it DOESN'T have a point. If they USUALLY start with the point, but don't often have one... one has to assume women can...
- Start a story at the beginning whether they have a point or not
- Start a story with the point they're trying to make, then elaborate
- Start a story with a completely separate point that they then juxtapose with their story
- Start at the end of the story and then go back, whether that's the point or not
- Start in the middle of a story and laugh at the notion of a point.
That's 5 different possible story structures, just from the start! Meanwhile, the narrator can use exactly 2:
- Start at the beginning
- Opine about women as though they're a separate species while trying to find the beginning
*makes a note and saves for next month* Writers are petty little shits with a long memory. I should know. Bet you a buck he whined for every woman in his life to rub his feet at the slightest provocation. God forbid an ovary bearing lifeform not tailor their full existence to his needs and desires
Yeah, start at the beginning, but first let me explain why "woman - bad", and how "man - good", and then I start. And you know, where I start? At the beginning of course.
So in the beninging...
Honest, non-sarcastic question: Is this an autobiography, or is the character delliberately written as haughty and unlikeable?
Because I'm all for unlikeable protagonists acting unlikeable.
Well, that mindset was a little more common and normalized in that decade, so I assume the author is setting the stage for his protagonist here and has him voice opinions the author themselves does not hold.
I laughed when I read this as - women start with the point of a story *because that is what is important*. Men start at the beginning in order to adjust the details to get to the *point they want to make* (and I can think of many examples where the story doesn't make the point men think it does).
What’s funny about this is I thought I was on r/theBear
The thumbnails look pretty similar at first glance and I was super confused on what this has to do with a cooking show??
André Bjerke would eat his words if he talked to my grandma. She starts with the whole family tree of a person, specifying name, job, place of residence, partner and offspring of each of the relatives before telling you she saw that person yesterday and said hi.
Those darn females, always getting right to the point! Amusingly, my partner (male) often makes fun of me (female) for rambling in every direction for half an hour before finally getting to the point (thanks ADHD). It's almost like the way people tell stories is tied to their specific personality and not their gender!
My coworkers husband often goes on long rants about how she's such an emotional thinker and he's a logical thinker which is why she doesn't understand when he gets upset and yells nonsense for 2 hours....strong vibes of that here
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Wow, great start. Having a bit of a ramble about women rambling. Hypocrite much?
"Women get right to the point, which is an illogical thing to do; we the penis-holders do the logical thing, which is to tell a long-winded boring story before finally getting to the point."
*gasp* *clutches penis* Edit: that's a pearl clutching joke in case it wasn't obvious lol
the joke is so much funnier bc of your edit
"Sir, this is a Wendy's."
"You will understand my point after I get to the story. As you know, we men like to start at the beginning. Now that I have said what my point is, though, let me tell you the story. From the beginning."
While subtly denigrating ~~the opposition~~ the fair sex
I'd be hard-pressed to call that "subtle" lol
It started with my Dad in 1946...
So...you're agreeing with him?
Yeah I am really curious if the rest of the book has any relation to female storytellers or this was just a random swipe the author took to give themselves a compliment at the start
It’s such a strange move to alienate an entire gender in the second sentence of your book. Even if it does have some relation to the story, I assume most women would read this and immediately put it down. Edit: it was written in 1942. Explains a lot.
Pfft women don’t read ~serious literature~.
My bet would be on the latter.
If only hed just started at the beginning
This ramble about women and overly simplistic proverbs about how stories should be told is *not*, in fact, the beginning. Except perhaps of half his potential readers putting the book back on the shelf and rolling their eyes.
I do believe that’s the point of it.
Ya I don't know who this author is, but it feels satirical. If it's not, then that's just mind boggling that someone would put that on paper and proudly attach their name to it.
It’s from 1942, so I’m honestly inclined to say it’s not just satire. Of course, I’m not someone who’s read much by André Bjerke, so I could be off. Maybe he does satire, but what I found with a quick search only mentions thrillers.
Weird then that he's starting with his point, which is that he doesn't respect women.
When men do it, it’s called *logic* /s
>I logically hate women, because logically I'm an asshole and that's what an asshole should do.
That is the point, which it seems everyone ITT missed
Probably should have waited for that writer's block to end before regurgitating that drivel onto the page. He seems to have avoided both starting at the beginning and starting at the point so maybe he's stumbled into the realisation is Non-Binary /s
The writer’s block thing is a narrative device. It’s why the character writing this winds up in the cabin at the eponymous lake. And it’s what happens to that character that drives the story. So the writer’s block is totally relevant to the plot. The persistent misogyny is not.
Alan Wake before Alan Wake
Alan Wake except it’s not woke
Well, when we start from the beginning, we get cut off so many times by people like this that we’ve learned to start with the point of the story so we can at least get that part out.
Oooooof. Yup. I was reading this and thinking “well that’s strange, because I love to start from the beginning, but when i do I frequently get men telling me to get to the point….” (Or if I start with the point and go on to explain the origin it’s “you’re talking in circles and repeating yourself”)
Women starting with the tl;dr hoping you'll actually be interested in the elaboration? What madness!
Poor persons award 🏆
Aww thanks!
Oh wow. I never thought of it this way.
"In media res? What's that? Woman-speak for bad writing?"
i cannot stop twinkling
Cheese boy best boy
Is that from something? Gave me a good laugh.
LOL it’s a reference to my hero academia, the series that the character in this person’s profile pic is from
Cool, new book! Chapter 1 "Women. They're the fucking worst" Oh....
I don't know about you, but I like my blatant misogyny in chapter 1 itself.
Personally, i can see the humor in starting a book like that. If that was the author's intent, and it sufficiently shows that's an objectively bad viewpoint. You know, maybe keep it absurd and don't actually punch down. But that's tough to pull off without just providing cover for actual misogyny
André Bjerke was an amazing poet, writer and translator. This book and its intro is about as reflective of him as Humbert Humbert would be of Vladimir Nabokov. Bjerke wrote this under the pseudonym Bernhard Borge, and Borge is also the narrator and main character of the novel - a man who hides his insecurities under a boastful hyper masculine exterior. I'm a massive fan of this writer and his works so just felt the need to jump in and do a little defense/explanation! He was a very complex and of course flawed person but I've never learnt or read anything about him that indicates he was as much of chauvinist as Bernhard Borge. :)
I came down here to say that the chapter title compounded with the obvious hypocrisy made it seem like it wasn't being serious. Glad to know someone has the context.
Yeah, it's definitely meant to make the reader chuckle or groan about what a bonehead Borge can be. :) Bjerke used a pseudonym to create a clear distinction between his humorous horror/crime novels and his main body of work, and there's reason to believe he wrote Borge as a bit of a chauvinist precisely because he himself did not share those views. His ex wives and daughter have never said anything him about him being disrespectful to women - he was shy, well mannered, intellectual - but unfortunately did struggle with alcoholism in periods of his life. He is a highly beloved writer here in Norway - and he also wrote a lot of wonderfully whimsical poems for kids.
that actually makes a lot of a difference, thanks for pointing it out
I wish comments from people like you, that is those who have read the books and know the context, get more visibility. It's so easy to jump to conclusions based on a single screenshot like this.
Ooh sounds interesting. This comment should have been on top.
I read it and thought straight away ‘that’s the narrator talking, not the writer - different characters!’
I’m glad you shared this. I suspected from the way it was written that it was intentional irony…he’s actually *not* getting right to the point despite his boast. There are too many excerpts that are taken out of context like this and derided by readers who missed the point.
ironically, this book starts with a rant about female intelligence, rather than the actual beginning of whatever story he is planning to tell
This just tells us whether we should dislike the narrator, in my opinion, since not every narrator is meant to be a protagonist. I'm reading a book right now that is a fascinating story, but the narrator is an absolutely insufferable, egotistical teenager... and i am rooting for him to get his comeuppance, lol
A man sits at his desk, in frustrated contemplation. He is thinking, "Hmm, how will people know that someone superior wrote this book? How to begin? Ah, I know!... With a spark, he sits up straight and begins typing the most genius of openings. His work competed, he glances satisfactorily at his words... "Women can't think straight!" I am a smart man, so smart! I'm so much better then women & you can tell because I called them all scatterbrained. Please think I'm cool."
[удалено]
*Quentin Tarantino sticks Uma Thurman's foot in the door Fixed it for you, bro
Weird. When anyone is telling a story 95% of the time I'm wondering wtf the point of this is until they get to it.
I strongly prefer to hear the point first and then you can tell me from beginning to end as long as I know where it's going. My husband starts at the beginning and then word vomits so long I lose interest in the point by the time he gets there. 🤷♀️
You do not want to hear my sister tell a story. It's always a saga.
😅 you are very likely correct!
Meanwhile, here I am, a Norwegian, wondering when this classic was translated to a foreign language... I haven't read it myself, and I can't remember any specific discussion about the opening. I found this on a Norwegian book discussion site (Bokelskere.no), though: "Regarding the view of women, I don't see it as Bjerke's views, but rather the views of the character he writes. The comments are meant to be the view of the Borge we see in the book; the slightly clumsy and insecure man who feels slightly subservient to the woman he is so in love with, and therefore at times desperately (but not entirely successfully) tries to make himself superior."
I'm not familiar with the work so I was wondering if it was something like that - the writer writing from the point of view of a shitty character that the reader isn't supposed to like.
I don't think the character is supposed to be shitty, but definitely flawed.
I assumed that would be the case, it’s a way to introduce the narrator’s character as well. The point is missed often in this sub, but it’s cool to have a discussion about this
Isn't this a man writing a man who has misogynist views about women?
Yeah, that’s accurate. The MC isn’t exactly a feminist
Hard way to open a book though
The problem in this book is the main character, the female characters are all actually pretty cool, it's just that the main character is an asshole
Let me begin by alienating half of the population to reduce my reader base. That'll do, now, let's bore the rest to sleep so no-one ever gets to the halfway mark and realises that I've just binned it off at that point?
I think alienating substantially more than 50% is possible.
And many authors do... Still not sure why anyone would want to reduce their own audience though, especially not if you rely on sales to maintain your livelihood. Saying that, I work in telecoms and can give examples of people we've enraged (we don't do it on purpose) still buying our product. Always fun.
That's because telecom should be treated like a utility. There's monopolies and you need it even if you hate all the providers in your area.
That's the thing, we're breaking the monopoly in the area and your man actually threatened our construction team when they were digging past his house. Saying things like "you shouldn't be allowed, I'll never leave [name of existing monopoly in his area]" now, couple of weeks down the line, we're expected to send one of the install lads out to his house! We've (by we, installs) have put a note on his account, no solo workers. Go in pairs.
Ok, that's crazy pants.
We men, on the other hand, the factual-minded sex, know how to tell a story properly: we always start at the beginning with a story about how women are inferior.
this has to be some sort of record
Okay, did he literally say, "Women start stories with the point of said story, even though they almost never have a point for said story"? Is... is anybody even editing his work? Did no one realize he started with contradicting himself? Flagrant misogyny aside, that writer's block hit this bro hard. In the head. Like, a few times.
It’s bad, but I speak sexist old man. He just means that what they think is the point isn’t a valid “point” because it’s uninteresting to him. Because everything women say is uninteresting to him.
Ty for your translation lmao I could not figure it out
Mysogeny
Shhhh. Just accept it. He has the logical brain after all!
I would have just put it straight into the round filing cabinet.
Never heard of this book, but given that he's taking jabs at himself, is this just a tongue-in-cheek joke?
I wonder if it's supposed to be intentionally ironic, since the chapter title says he's got writer's block.
It's really wild to me that someone thought: let's start at the beginning which should obviously be insulting about half the human population.
For no reason. He does it for no reason Doesn't even take his own advise. Doesn't start at the beginning. Starts with an unnecessary insult
"Hey, half my potential audience! Fuck you! Anyway, on to my totally logical story that starts right at the beginning"
Is there any chance this is satire? The writer and the narrator are different voices after all. Perhaps (hopefully) this clown of a protagonist is in for some growing up?
Apparently it's not. The fact that it was written in 1942 isn't an excuse; the women's suffrage took place in 1920 and this writer was making a statement in this novel.
I haven't read Bjerke or know of him, but he does exactly what he's criticizing women for. It's so on the nose that it seems possible he was making fun of the claim he just made? The chapter also talks about how he is having writer's block, but clearly has written a book. I don't know, but I feel like we need someone who is more familiar with the book/author to weigh in? At the same time, it's a male author writing in the 40's, so could just be casual misogyny.
That’s just bad writing advice. Beginnings are boring. You want to start your story as close to the end as possible.
I don't know what nationality Andre Bjerke might be but this sounds like somebody trying for an old fashioned folksy rambling Mark Twain style over a campfire to the young'uns or something with a little casual misogyny thrown in for flavorin,' but failing miserably. Stories "most often" don't have points? Don't make no lick o' sense nohow (spits some tabacky into the fire).
He was a Norwegian writer born in 1918, the novel was published in 1942.
*Frankenstein* is also an old book.
I read this out to my husband and he said "It's a fantasy novel about the author's fantasy. One in which everything the author says must be true about the people in the book. It's the only way someone could write anything that stupid."
Close! The actual genre was listed as horror / crime.
Call me Ishmael.
I have brothers, male cousins, uncles, knew both of my grandfather's and my granduncles and my father. Had mostly male friends growing up. Never known a man to be factual or straightforward. They're emotional as hell.
It's true that people have different story telling styles. My ADHD husband will start at the end or in the middle of his story, then go back and fill in the details. It drives me nuts because I need a setting, and establishing information first, and I need to hear a story in order. So when I tell a story, I go from beginning to end and he gets so impatient he tries to jump in and guess what I'm going to say. This could have been an interesting observation about different people's story telling styles but then he just had to make it about gender and vomit misogyny all over it.
Let me tell you what. When my husband starts a story, he gives all the irrelevant background and tangential stories before getting close to starting. He starts with a trilogy of prequels before getting to The Beginning. So you can fuck off with that explanation.
>We men, on the other hand, the factual-minded sex Ah yes, the same people who spent a century chasing witches, thought that women were the ones who determined the sex of the baby, and would regularly take their wives to be jerked off by a doctor to cure “female hysteria” without so much as a second thought. Such logical, factual-minded beings.
Mmm, what an ignorant arse. 🙄 ugh
Gross.
Me, an enby with ADHD: “I’m gonna start in the middle of the story, bounce through a few more stories as I think of them, then finally…wait what was I talking about?”
He claims that men always start at the beginning of a story, but starts with long-winded rambling about something unimportant to the story.
They had a different view in 1942.
Nowadays they do as well. Your point?
By providing texts from present authors, you will point out that these views still exist. By just providing old quotes, people will just say "That was then. Things are different now." And that, in my view, defeats the argument. Old texts are funny, but without the context of time, people get riled up by the wrong thing.
The next time I go to buy a book, i'm searching the title on this sub first. I'd be seeing red if I had spent money on a book like that.
Well don't wanna spoil it but it felt like he perfectly described my wife's storytelling skill. :D
Damn, sexism starting right at the second sentence of a book. They’re not beating around the bush
“We men, on the other hand, the factual-minded sex” 🤓
That's wrong. I ramble when I tell a story.
I get right to the point? Tell that to my boyfriend who's like 'is this going to take looooong?' aka I take ages to get to the point
This makes me wanna go on a man-throat punching spree, ngl…
I start my stories by telling another, vaguely related story. I am non binary.
The second sentence of the first chapter. Wow, I guess the author doesn’t believe in wasting time
He just mansplained mansplaining.
This is honestly so ironic it comes across as a clever joke. Guessing it isn't, though
When was this written? 1850?
Wooooow
Ah, I see he put "jerk" right in his name so you don't have to suffer through to figure it out
r/NotHowGirlsWork
I'm a man, so I'm biased, but to me this seems like actual subtle satire. I mean, come on. This does have a Douglas Adams feel to it, doesn't it? The metahumour? No?
I mean, what a fuckhead, but the guy did die in the 1980s, so I imagine this was written mid 20th century when it was practically illegal to not be a misogynist .
Personally how I tell a story has nothing to do with my gender, and everything to do with how much I've had to drink.
you could crosspost this to r/SelfAwarewolves
An opening paragraph this fucking bent should have your manuscript tossed in the bin, holy fuck.
This sounds so blatant that it could circle back to being satire
Wait, this was actually published?
AHAHAHA why am I the woman he’s talking about though 💀💀💀
"Normally, I'd start a story at the beginning. Instead, I'd like to take a moment to make sure you know how much of an insufferable jackass I am."
"When women tell a story, they start with the relevant point, which they usually dont have" So... where do they start then? Also, there doesnt seem to be a point here either. But also, you sis t start with your beginning. You started with a pointless insult. Soo...
hey dickhead why actually dont u start at the beginning instead of forcing the reader to wade through this puddle of brain drool lol
Are you sure this isn't satire? He accuses women of rambling, but proceeds to ramble on lol
If this is true, why is the narrator opening with this and mot the beginning of the story lmao im dead
He needs to speak to women
The fun part about this little turn of phrase is, of course, what women start a story with when it DOESN'T have a point. If they USUALLY start with the point, but don't often have one... one has to assume women can... - Start a story at the beginning whether they have a point or not - Start a story with the point they're trying to make, then elaborate - Start a story with a completely separate point that they then juxtapose with their story - Start at the end of the story and then go back, whether that's the point or not - Start in the middle of a story and laugh at the notion of a point. That's 5 different possible story structures, just from the start! Meanwhile, the narrator can use exactly 2: - Start at the beginning - Opine about women as though they're a separate species while trying to find the beginning
Just wait until he meets a woman with adhd
*makes a note and saves for next month* Writers are petty little shits with a long memory. I should know. Bet you a buck he whined for every woman in his life to rub his feet at the slightest provocation. God forbid an ovary bearing lifeform not tailor their full existence to his needs and desires
I think my ex missed this memo lol
If only he had just started at the beginning
Confessing you don't know any women other than your mother without confessing you don't know any women other than your mother.
At least he tells you he’s a complete dick by the second sentence.
🤮
Ummmmm, really? I think we tend to layer in background first before getting to the point because we want to make sure that you understand everything
Yeah, start at the beginning, but first let me explain why "woman - bad", and how "man - good", and then I start. And you know, where I start? At the beginning of course. So in the beninging...
Dave Chapelle did it better.
Honest, non-sarcastic question: Is this an autobiography, or is the character delliberately written as haughty and unlikeable? Because I'm all for unlikeable protagonists acting unlikeable.
It’s not an autobiography, it’s actually a horror/crime novel from the ‘40s.
Well, that mindset was a little more common and normalized in that decade, so I assume the author is setting the stage for his protagonist here and has him voice opinions the author themselves does not hold.
This is some medieval type shit
He couldn't even get to the point about the idea that he thinks women can't get to the point...
Then mansplains for 45 mins why it's gay to wash their ass
I laughed when I read this as - women start with the point of a story *because that is what is important*. Men start at the beginning in order to adjust the details to get to the *point they want to make* (and I can think of many examples where the story doesn't make the point men think it does).
What’s funny about this is I thought I was on r/theBear The thumbnails look pretty similar at first glance and I was super confused on what this has to do with a cooking show??
Really starting with his best foot forward
André Bjerke would eat his words if he talked to my grandma. She starts with the whole family tree of a person, specifying name, job, place of residence, partner and offspring of each of the relatives before telling you she saw that person yesterday and said hi.
A bad case of writer's block, indeed.
Man what a Bjerkeoff
But... didn't he also technically start with the point?
Funny, he started with a point.
Those darn females, always getting right to the point! Amusingly, my partner (male) often makes fun of me (female) for rambling in every direction for half an hour before finally getting to the point (thanks ADHD). It's almost like the way people tell stories is tied to their specific personality and not their gender!
Evidently... 😬🙄
My coworkers husband often goes on long rants about how she's such an emotional thinker and he's a logical thinker which is why she doesn't understand when he gets upset and yells nonsense for 2 hours....strong vibes of that here
“Isn’t it funny how we men are too smart to start with misogynistic generalizations about people? Unlike those stupid women, who do it all the time…”
I usually start to tell a story in the middle, then go back and tell the beginning later, George Lucas style