On toughness - toughest writers of all time?

[WhisperTree]

With a view to adding to my TBR pile, I've been trying to think of the toughest, least sentimental female authors of all time, with an emphasis on midcentury to the present day.

The names which keep coming to mind are North Americans and Continental Europeans. I must have a blindspot for these fair isles, which must surely have their own tradition of stylistic toughness.

Help me out, please?

Who are some of the toughest, least sentimental British fiction and non-fiction writers - the ones who might be criticised as e.g. "cold", "heartless" etc because their style leaves space for the reader to feel their own feels

Can you name some of the Continental/North American authors you are thinking of?
Here;
Virginia Woolf, surely?
Elizabeth Taylor
Fay Weldon

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Zadie Smith
Sandra Cisneros
Svetlana Alexievich
Donna Tartt
Hilary Mantel
Joan Didion
Toni Morrison

Donna Tartt is American @cupcaske123 😉

So is Joan Didion (sorry)

Thanks for this. I've heard of Weldon but not read her. Will investigate. Ditto Taylor, who is new to me.

Woolf - yes, tough, but too early for my purposes!

The names which came easily to mind were Hannah Arendt, Simone de Beauvoir, Simone Weil, Joan Didion, Susan Sontag.

Who are the comparable British philosopher-storytellers?

Many thanks. I think only Zadie and Hilary are British?

Oh! She only wants British. Will add some more.

I think things are more partitioned here between life and philosophy, I can't think of any British authors that write in the same way. Will follow with interest.

Aha. Interesting. So it might not be so much that I've a blindspot, as that there may not be a comparable tradition of women's writing here. I wonder will someone else come along with some names...

A S Byatt
Angela Carter
Iris Murdoch
Doris Lessing
Pat Barker
A L Kennedy

Does Doris Lessing fit? Muriel Spark? The Driver's Seat is bleak.

Can you mention any less philosophical life writers @Kornvallmo ?

Henry James

Sorry. Not female. Virginia Woolf?

Muriel Spark comes to mind instantly. The Driver’s Seat has been mentioned and I will add Loitering With Intent - the inappropriately named Fleur is witty & bracingly unsentimental.

Byatt - love; have read
Carter - I suppose she is tough in some ways, though I'd filed her under gothic
Murdoch - YES!!!!!!!! Why didn't I think of her? She's the exemplar. The Sea The Sea is my favourite, but I read most of her novels in my early twenties
Lessing - OFC! Why didn't I think of her? Again, I've read many of her novels
Pat Barker - good catch. The Silence of the Girls stayed with me
A L Kennedy - haven't read, but will investigate

Thanks so much. A redoubtable roster of Toughness.

Elizabeth Taylor’s short ghost story “Poor Girl” is very good, with an interesting twist.

Embarrassed to admit that I've read zero works by Spark. I will remedy this, following your recommendations. Many thanks.

Now that you've all got me thinking, Edna O'Brien might belong here. Irish, but she became a Londoner. And she was, without doubt, from the School of Tough.

Oh, I thought Doris Lessing was South African!
I can't think of many British ones @WhisperTree Americans and Europeans are more my cup of tea.
Like Pearl Buck. Lionel Shriver.

She was born to British parents in Persia and they moved to Rhodesia when she was a child. She moved to London in 1949. Her original surname was Tayler.

I believe she started her life in Zim, but moved to England in her twenties and stayed here until her death.

I have a lot of time for Shriver's novels. Buck is another novel name for me. Thanks!

Beryl Bainbridge ?

Diana Athill. Especially Somewhere towards the end.

Oh, there's a name to conjure with @Elodie9 Adding to the list. Thanks.

Elizabeth Jane Howard
Elizabeth Bowen
One of my faves Colette
Susan Hill, perhaps

I wouldn't say Penelope Lively was sentimental either.