Dangerous Writing

The Autobiographies of Willa Muir, Margaret Laurence and Janet Frame
Erscheinungsjahr 2013
ISBN: 978-90-420-3649-9
Verlag: Brill | Rodopi

Buch, Englisch, Band 199, 300 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 490 g

Reihe: Costerus New Series

This book examines the literary construction of personal identity through autobiographical narratives by three significant writers analysed together for the first time: the Scottish Willa Muir (1890-1970), the Canadian Margaret Laurence (1926-1987), and the New Zealander Janet Frame (1924-2004). These apparently dissimilar authors suffered not only geographical, but also political marginality: they were women from the working-class or struggling middle-class, striving to be considered as professional writers, and emerging from countries that might be felt to be under the shadows of economic and political world powers such as England and the United States. During their lifetimes, they exerted themselves to overcome prejudices about class, gender and ethnicity. They experienced war and the post-war era, and lived through most of the twentieth century, being accurate witnesses and critics of their times.
As it discusses major writers who are iconic for the development of the literatures of their respective countries, this book also attracts readers who are interested in learning more about the lives of these remarkable women, the way their socio-historical and geographical circumstances affected their writing and how they expressed such concerns in their autobiographies and other fictional and non-fictional works, besides considering them in relation to contemporary women writers —and autobiographers— who underwent similar experiences.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literatursoziologie, Gender Studies
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Einzelne Autoren: Monographien & Biographien
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Englische Literatur Amerikanische Literatur
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Englische Literatur Postkoloniale Literaturen in Englisch, Englische Literatur außerhalb Europas

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Willa Muir
Brief Chronology
The Writer and the Translator
The Writer as Mother
Belonging to the Universe
Margaret Laurence
Brief Chronology
Motherhood as Gift and Trap
The Dynamic Concept of Place
The Craft of the Writer: Vulnerability and Power
Janet Frame
Brief Chronology
A Place for the Self
The Writer’s Vocation
In Search of Loneliness
Conclusion
Appendixes
Willa Muir’s Translations
Interview with Professor Clara Thomas
Archives Consulted
Bibliography
Index