Susan Glaspell's Century of American Women: A Critical Interpretation of Her WorkOxford University Press, 1993 M03 25 - 184 pages Tracing the evolution of Susan Glaspell's writing, Veronica Makowsky provides fascinating glimpses of the life of a woman who broke the barriers against female journalists, advocated socialism, struggled with the precepts of Greenwich Village free love, was one of the founders of the Provincetown Players, participated in the sessions of the feminist Heterodoxy Club, placed women's concerns on the stage as a playwright and actress, and wrote about a turbulent century of American women with courage, optimism, sensitivity, and love. This is the first full-length book about Glaspell's works, including the fiction and lifewriting that bracketed her relatively brief career as the playwright best-known for the one-act drama Trifles. Also the author of many other plays, including the Pulitzer prize-winning Alison's House, a number of collected and uncollected short stories, nine novels, and a biography of her husband the iconoclastic George Cram Cook, Glaspell was an artist of formidable, but ill-acknowledged talent. Makowsky places Glaspell's work in its biographical and cultural context, with particular attention to Glaspell's depiction of women's roles over a century of American history. In addition, she examines closely Glaspell's use of the maternal metaphor and her depiction of women in the role of mothers. This absorbing and revelatory study rescues one of America's literary "foremothers" from relative obscurity, challenging canonical ideas about the circumstances that lead to literary "greatness." |
Contents
The Hydra Heads of Obscurity | 3 |
A Fortunate Fall? | 12 |
Cultural Confusions and Apprentice Fiction | 29 |
3 Fidelity to the Future through Visioning | 44 |
From Trifles to The Verge | 59 |
5 Whose Life Is It Anyway? The Road to the Temple | 83 |
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Adah Adrienne Rich Alison's House Allie Mayo Ambrose Holt American Women artist autobiography become believes Bernice Blossom Brook Evans Chicago child Chippman conventional Cook's creative cultural daughter Davenport death despite Edna Ernestine's Eugene O'Neill experience father Fejevary female feminism feminist fiction Floyd Dell Frances Fugitive's Return gender George Cram Cook girl Glaspell presents Glaspell seems Glaspell's Glaspell's heroines Gordon Wallace Greece Greek Coins Greenwich Village Heilbrun Hertha Holt and Family husband ideal indicated Iowa Irma Katie Katie's Lincoln literary lives lover Lydia Madeleine male Marcia Noe marriage married maternal feeling Minnie Wright Mollie Price mother motherhood Naomi nineteenth-century Norma Ashe novel nurturing patriarchal playwright poems Provincetown Players realizes Road role Ruth Holland Ruth's Sara Ruddick shepherd social socialist society spirit story Subsequent references Susan Glaspell tells Temple things tion Trifles University of Iowa Visioning wants Woman from Idaho woman's honor writes York young