In a closet hidden
Subtitle: the life and work of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
By: Leah Blatt Glasser.
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Amherst
Language: eng
Number of pages: 266
Subjects: Freeman, Mary Eleanor Wilkins, 1852-1930.; Feminism and literature -- New England -- History -- 19th century.; Women and literature -- New England -- History -- 19th century.; Lesbians' writings, American -- History and criticism.; Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography.; Authors, American -- 20th century -- Biography.; Sex role in literature.
Description: The first literary biography of a much-neglected American writer, this book explores the multiple tensions at the core of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's life and work. A prolific short story writer and novelist, Freeman (1852-1930) developed a reputation as a local colorist who depicted the peculiarities of her native New England.

Yet as Leah Blatt Glasser shows, Freeman was one of the first American authors to write extensively about the relationships women form outside of marriage and motherhood, the role of work in women's lives, the complexity of women's sexuality, and the interior lives of women who rebel rather than conform to patriarchal strictures.

In a Closet Hidden traces Freeman's evolution as a writer, showing how her own inner conflicts repeatedly found expression in her art. As Glasser demonstrates, Freeman's work examined the competing claims of creativity and convention, self-fulfillment and self-sacrifice, spinsterhood and marriage, lesbianism and heterosexuality.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-256) and index.
"Selected bibliography of the works of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman": (p. 257-260).