Revisiting Lena Dunham's Girls
Plus some other good writing, and a Creative Hour this Sunday.
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Here are a few things from my week in words.
Staying true to my plan to read lots of not-new books in 2024, I’m currently reading Meg Wolitzer’s The Wife. She is one of my favourite novelists – keen-eyed and honest and unhurried and funny – and The Wife is wonderful.
A couple of weeks ago I met Taffy Brodesser-Akner, who told me that Meg was an early reader of her novel, and gave her the most brilliant notes – what a dream that must have been. Though I haven’t had Meg on the In Writing podcast yet, I did interview her for my book. We had a Zoom call for an hour or so, which was such a pleasure.
She told me, ‘What I'm trying to do is show a snapshot of a moment in time …How do people live? And what is it like? That’s my mantra, again and again: what is it like?’ I think this is the reason her work is so good. When I write fiction, I still find myself writing things that are a bit clichéd or lazy, sacrificing honesty in order to get more quickly to a neatly tied-up plot – and I see this in published novels all the time. It takes real patience and skill to make yourself stick to what something would really be like, and not take emotional shortcuts – and ultimately, it’s so much more satisfying for the reader. I’m so looking forward to sharing more of what Meg had to say when the book comes out.
In addition to The Wife, I’ve read The Interestings and The Female Persuasion, but that’s it – if you have a recommendation among her other novels, I’d love to hear it.
I’m a big fan of the comedian Mike Birbiglia’s podcast Working It Out, where he gets together with (usually) another comic. They talk about how they hone their material, and often they write or workshop some jokes together. I’m not a comedian, but I’ve learnt so much about storytelling from this podcast and from watching Birbiglia’s own stand-up specials (which, if you’re in the UK, are all on Netflix).
Last week he did an atypical but particularly good episode with the screenwriter John August:
I kept pausing it to make notes, and am now definitely going to listen to August’s own podcast. Give it a listen and let me know what you think!
My comedy tastes skew quite American – informed by a childhood spent watching endless Friends and Frasier and Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Cybill and The Cosby Show and Spin City and Caroline in the City and Ellen and Will and Grace – and at the moment, I’m rewatching Girls.
I think Lena Dunham was, in fact, as Hannah Horvath believed herself to be, ‘the voice of my generation… or at least a voice of a generation’.
The world she painted in Girls was limited, and largely white, and there are moments and even episodes that miss the mark badly (I’m never going to be happy about the episode where Charlie returns). But the writing is also so funny, and the characters are so specific and well-observed; the world she painted reflected the privileged white hipster circles she was moving in (and the awful people you find in those circles).
She was so wildly successful at such a young age that in the critical eye, she came to represent more than just herself and her own project; she was held responsible for larger failings of popular culture at the time. I think some of that was unfair, and I’m not sure a brilliant young man’s creative work would have been scrutinised to the same extent.
I am also struck, watching a 2012 show with a 2024 eye, by the fact that Dunham was not fat, though a huge amount of commentary around the show focused on her apparent fatness. It was startling at the time to see a woman with a non-Victoria’s-Secret-model body on screen, often naked and having sexual relationships. It’s so sad to think that this was so unfamiliar to us in such recent history. Girls was genuinely revolutionary television in some respects, and it paved the way for more change. It wasn’t perfect, but it was still fantastic. I will always be interested in Dunham’s work.
The In Writing Creative Hour returns this Sunday 2 June at 5pm UK time (timezone converter here). I’m looking forward to seeing you! Paying subscribers will get the link to join earlier in the day, straight to your inbox as usual.
Until then, good luck with your writing this week!
I rewatched the whole six series recently and it was a delight; was also taken aback by actually how petite she is, considering she was meant to be “overweight”. It’s like Bridget Jones weighing herself being “fat” at 9 stone. I’m so glad things have moved on.
Thanks for the recommendations - I need to rewatch girls. Last night I was talking with friends about films and TV series that either wouldn’t be commissioned now (Manhattan- a difficult watch with a teenage daughter, though it felt completely okay when I first saw it sometime in the early 90s) or that feel quite different viewed at a distance.
I LOVE Meg Wolitzer and The Position is probably my favourite. Brilliantly funny and moving story about the children of a couple who write a hugely successful sex manual called Pleasuring!