Grace Paley's Life Stories
Subtitle: A LITERARY BIOGRAPHY
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: December 1, 1992
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9780252019456
Subjects: Novels, other prose & writers: from c 1900 -; Paley, Grace - Prose & Criticism; Biography / Autobiography; English; Literary Criticism; USA; General; Literary Criticism & Collections / American; 20th century; Authors, American; Biography; History; Paley, Grace; United States; Women and literature
Description: Is Faith Darwin Asbury really Grace Paley? Or is it coincidental that the personal history, politics, and relationships of the fictional Asbury seem to mirror those of the well-known author? And do other characters in Paley's stories represent individuals she has known, in scenes and entire episodes she has experienced? A writer who translates her life into art not only "saves" her own life, according to Paley, but offers others the revelation of its meaning. That idea.

Is at the core of Judith Arcana's biographical reading of this strongly autobiographical writer. Grace Paley's Life Stories interweaves details about Paley with critical discussions of her works, examining her as a woman, mother, activist, and Jew. Arcana visited and interviewed Paley at her homes in Vermont and New York over a period of several years. She also interviewed Paley's family, friends, and colleagues. Such extensive research is unmatched in Paley scholarship.

Arcana's focus on the political crucible of Paley's consciousness is rare in contemporary literary criticism.