I really did think

[james_davis_nicoll]

Everyone knew Andre Norton was a woman. Silly of me.

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are comment(s); comment here or there.

Comments

[drcuriosity]

I can't recall ever having read any bios or anything - I just assumed she was female because of something in the way she wrote felt like a female author.

[kithrup.livejournal.com]

I thought Andre was a woman's name...

[nelc.livejournal.com]

When I started reading Norton, I thought she was a man just because. I found out at some point between 9 and 11 y.o. that she was a she, and then decided that maybe in some countries Andre was also a woman's name, being entirely innocent of any reason why a woman would adopt a man's name. (Come to think of it, I don't actually know that Andre isn't used as a woman's name anywhere. One of my Mum's middle names is Andrew, after all.)

[bastets-place.livejournal.com]

This- This is my own experience. On the other hand, I have an Aunt named Jo, so I never thought much about it.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

*nods* same here. I learned she was female when my parents moved and I started going to a new library, looked her up in the card catalog (being my favorite author and eager to know if they had her books in the YA or SF sections), and was surprised to see a note about what her real name was. I also have an old Ace paperback of Plague Ship where the cover says Andre Norton, writing as Andrew North, I got that a couple years after the afore-mentioned trip to the library and had begun to realize that there might be a reason some female SF authors used male names.

[aboutlikepleats.livejournal.com]

Our small-town library in the 70's had her stuff split between the children's and adult sections ("SF" section? What is this "SF" of which you speak?). Sometimes a given book would move. Sometimes sequels would be filed in different sections. Library science, at it's finest.

It took a long talk from my Dad to convince the librarian that yes, I was in fact allowed to read books from the adult section, even though I hadn't leveled up yet.

Crack in the dam, as it happened. Thanks, Andre.

[hot-soup.livejournal.com]

Yep, me too

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

I can't remember a time that I didn't know Andre Norton was a woman, and I also assumed Andre was a standard woman's name. (I was aware that it was a man's name in French, but "Norton" didn't seem very French so I assumed it was an uncommon woman's name in English, and the similarity to the French name was a coincidence.)

[nathan helfinstine (from livejournal.com)]

Same here. As a wee lad, I loved her books. I guess I found out the author was a female because I'd talk about the books with my SF-enthusiast father, who referred to Ms. Norton as "her". I didn't know any other Andres, so I assumed it was a feminine name.

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

I think I found out around 1972.

Is it important?

[leecetheartist.livejournal.com]

Hah, I can't blame the readers because on occasion I have seen the blurbs on the book itself refer to her as a 'he'!

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's very odd (except possibly for really old books). Everything of hers I bought in the 1970s and after either avoided pronouns (though much of the 70s) or used she (almost universally later). When were these books published?

[leecetheartist.livejournal.com]

Couldn't say, think the one I remember was a library book, or bought from a library sale. It was a hardcover. It would have been old 30 years ago when I saw it and scoffed to my sister - Andre is a girl!

[ravenskyewalker.livejournal.com]

Because Andre is a male name in French, I honestly assumed she was male. I realized differently sometime around 1982-1985 in a bookstore. I can't remember the exact year, but remember the distinct feeling of "Ohh, I see!" while reading about her.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. Bilingual english/french meant I just assumed she was a dude named "Andre" because that was a standard male name.

Like James Tiptree, which is slightly different but works on the same base principle of "male first name, author is probably male".

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that I read an "About the Author" back of the book or something when I first encountered her work; I can't remember ever not knowing. And it never occurred to me to wonder whether "Andre" was a male or female name.

[seawasp]

I found out she was female only many years after I first read something by her. I don't know exactly when because my reaction to it wasn't terribly strong, just a "Oh, really? I didn't know that."

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Can't recall when that fact impinged on my consciousness. Well after the first reading, I'm sure. But it's more that I didn't pay attention. Just as I didn't learn that Butler was black until long after reading the first story of hers I came across.

Author bios and author political beliefs meant a lot less, pre-internet.

[countrycousin.livejournal.com]

I normally think of Andre as a male name. In the 60s I normally thought of SF writers as male although I was aware of notable exceptions. I discovered Ms. Norton was female and assumed she had assumed a male pen name as many before her had done. Never checked that until now - apparently it is the case. I suspect others go through this cycle, constantly replenishing the ranks of the unaware. :-)

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I was being silly because there is no fact that is universally known.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

What, not even that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife?

(Sorry, I didn't have enough sleep.)

[nelc.livejournal.com]

Do you know that for sure?

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Sorry, don't know how that got frozen.

[dbdatvic.livejournal.com]

Certainly the fact that there is no fact that is universally known is not universally known, to judge by some people's assumptions of how other people must be thinking.

(One of the other replies to this has (Frozen) as the first link under it. Never saw that before!)

--Dave

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I have a female cousin and had a male classmate both named Andre so it has always been a gender-neutral name to me. I think I might have assumed she was a male in the very beginning but was corrected early on by bio on a book jacket. This memory actually stands out because I didn't normally read the bios, but she was my favourite author in middle & high school so I made a point of reading hers.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

I found out fairly early on that "he" was a woman. Never gave it a second thought.

[al-zorra.livejournal.com]

I bought my first Andre Norton novels on my first visit to NYC, with weeks of graduation from H.S. How - when I knew Andre Norton was female I can no longer remember, but it was soon, surely.

What I do remember though, so very clearly, was a condescending mansplaining clown going on and on about Science Fiction and who was and wasn't worth reading -- and how he patted me on the head for being such a good little to know -- EDITED BECAUSE so wtf was wrong with how I typed mansplainer's shock and awe -- that Andre Norton wasn't male. Because, of course, it was Sekrit Knowledge that only privileged brilliant sorts like himself had access to.

Love, C.

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

I knew just about right away because I first found her books in the library, and the library card catalogue had them filed under "Norton, Alice Mary pseud. Andre Norton".

The librarians in my local library were really big on filing books under The Correct Name for an author -- even if they were better known under another name. I daresay they wasted a whole bunch of their time finding Victoria Holt or Jean Plaidy novels for people -- until finally a new librarian changed the practice when I was in my teens.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Ms. Norton was quoted in several sources as saying that "Andre" without an accent is a female name.

[jcfiala.livejournal.com]

One of my earliest memories is that of a librarian telling me that Andre Norton was a woman, and my vast shock at hearing it. I was, what? Probably somewhere between 7 and 11. I'm pretty sure I was still hanging out in the kids section then, although I never did entirely leave it since that's where the Tintin books were kept. :)