Simenon, MacEwan, Tillyard

I read the great novel of Belgian Liege, Pedigree, by Georges Simenon. It seems this was his bid for literary greatness, for acceptance in serious literary circles. It did not work for him, but the novel is interesting as a bildungsroman. I like his straightforward murder mysteries better. I read Stella Tillyard's book on the Lennox sisters, and I found it mildly diverting, and not particularly significant in historical terms. I thought the same of the television series. Insipid, I guess, compared to some of the heavy stuff I've read for history. Finally I read the much lauded Atonement, and I found it sexist almost to caricature. A thirteen year-old girl would bear false testimony out of sexual jealousy? How trite, and how out of date. I didn't get the class stuff at all, it certainly wasn't redeeming, and I didn't find the style sparkling either. It's unfortunate I had just read D. H. Lawrence, it's certainly not a fair comparison. I certainly am swimming against the trend on this one. How much ground the stereotypes about women have gained, and after all that work, too, from the wom n's movement.