After reviewing the data from more than one million college syllabi, Time published a list of the top 100 female authors read in college classes. Kate L. Turabian and Diana Hacker, both authors of writing manuals, topped the list, appearing in 3,998 and 3,889 curricula respectively. There was, however, a strange inclusion near the end of the list. Coming in at number 97 was Brideshead Revisited author Evelyn Waugh, who, despite his name, is not actually a woman.
Time is not the first publication to get Waugh's gender wrong. In 1928, when The Times Literary Supplement reviewed his first book, it referred to the author as “Miss Waugh.” Waugh promptly wrote a letter to correct the reviewer:
My Christian name, I know, is occasionally regarded by people of limited social experience as belonging exclusively to one or other sex; but it is unnecessary to go further into my book than the paragraph charitably placed inside the wrapper for the guidance of unleisured critics, to find my name with its correct prefix of 'Mr.' [The Times Literary Supplement]
Time's list did manage to get another tricky name correct: No. 10 on the list is George Eliot, the pseudonym of the 19th century author Mary Ann (or Marian) Cross who wrote Middlemarch and The Mill on the Floss. Time has since corrected its error and updated the list accordingly.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Christian Brückner: why prime suspect in Madeleine McCann case can refuse Met interviewThe Explainer International letter of request rejected by 49-year-old convicted rapist as he prepares to walk free
-
Crossword: September 16, 2025The Week's daily crossword
-
Sudoku medium: September 16, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
