Private Voices, Public Lives: Women Speak on the Literary Life

668 Pages·1995·1.59 MB·English

by  Nancy Owen Nelson

Private Voices, Public Lives : Women Speak
title:
On the Literary Life
author: Nelson, Nancy Owen
publisher: University of North Texas Press
isbn10 | asin: 0929398882
print isbn13: 9780929398884
ebook isbn13: 9780585281667
language: English
American literature--Women authors--
History and criticism, Literature--Women
authors--History and criticism--Theory, etc,
subject Feminism and literature--United States,
Women and literature--United States,
Authorship--Sex differences, Self in
literature.
publication date: 1995
lcc: PS147.P75 1995eb
ddc: 810.9/9287
American literature--Women authors--
History and criticism, Literature--Women
authors--History and criticism--Theory, etc,
subject: Feminism and literature--United States,
Women and literature--United States,
Authorship--Sex differences, Self in
literature.
Page iii
Private Voices, Public Lives Women Speak on
the Literary Life
Edited by
Nancy Owen Nelson
FOREWORD BY JANE TOMPKINS
Page iv
© 1995 University of North Texas Press
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
First edition 1995
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Rights to individual essays retained by their authors. Requests for
permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to:
Permissions
University of North Texas Press
PO Box 13856
Denton TX 76203
The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials Z39.48.1984. Binding materials have been chosen
for durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Private voices, public lives: essays on text and the private self /
edited by Nancy Owen Nelson
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-929398-88-2
1. American literature Women authorsHistory and criticism.
2. LiteratureWomen authorsHistory and criticismTheory, etc. 3.
Feminism and literatureUnited States. 4. Women and literature
United States. 5. AuthorshipSex differences. 6. Self in literature. I.
Nelson, Nancy Owen, 1946-
PS147.P75 1995 94-48327
110.9'9287dc20 CIP
Page v
To the memory of
Lorne N. "Larry" Colter
19301995
Who showed me his deep
and burning passion
for life
Page vii
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
Foreword xiii
Jane Tompkins
Introduction xvii
Nancy Owen Nelson
I
Work/Love Paradigm
"Tangled Together Like Badly Cast Fishing Line": The 3
Reader and the Text in Katherine Anne Porter's "Pale
Horse, Pale Rider"
Ann L. Putnam
Love, Work, and Willa Cather 11
Ann Fisher-Wirth
The Voices from the Little House 19
Ann Romines
Rewriting the Love Plot Our Way: Women and Work 29
Susan J. Rosowski
II
The Text as Mirror
Nancy DrewThe Perfect Solution 41
Carol S. Chadwick
Wrestling with the Mother and the Father: "His" and 54
"Her" in Adrienne Rich
Betty S. Flowers
Page viii
In Search of the Androgynous Self 64
Nancy Owen Nelson
From Robot to Roarer 72
Jo C. Searles
A White Bird Flying Straight Down 86
Catherine E. Lamb
Being an I-Witness: My Life as a Lesbian Teacher 99
Barbara DiBernard
Mother/Daughter Dialog(ic)s in, around and about Amy 111
Tan's The Joy Luck Club
Bonnie Braendlin
Offshore Women: A Personal Log 125
Nancy Pagh
Metamorphosis: Mutations of a Hungarian Continental 141
Drifter into an American Woman
Olga Klekner
TrappedThen Release by a Gift from the Sea 153
Lois Hassan
Speaking Across Boundaries and Sharing the Loss of a 163
Child
Melody Graulich
Trailing West 183
Susan Naramore Maher
Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, Revisited 194
Michele Potter