Overview
A landmark survey of disenfranchised literary voices and the forces that seek to silence themāfrom the influential activist and author ofĀ Tell Me a Riddle.
With this groundbreaking work, Olsen revolutionized the study of literature by shedding critical light on the writings of marginalized women and working-class people. From the excavated testimony of authorsā letters and diaries, Olsen shows us the many ways the creative spirit, especially in those disadvantaged by gender, class, or race, has been suppressed through the years. Olsen recounts the torments of Herman Melville, the shame that brought Willa Cather to a dead halt, and the struggles of Olsenās personal heroine Virginia Woolf, the greatest exemplar of a writer who confronted the forces that worked to silence her.
First published in 1978,Ā SilencesĀ expanded the literary canon and the ways readers engage with literature. This 25th-anniversary edition includes Olsenās classic reading lists of forgotten authors and a new introduction. Bracing and prescient,Ā SilencesĀ remains āof primary importance to those who want to understand how art is generated or subverted and to those trying to create it themselvesā (Margaret Atwood,Ā The New York Times Book Review).
āA valuable book, an angry book, a call to action.ā āMaxine Hong Kingston
āSilencesĀ helped me to keep my sanity many a day.ā āGloria Naylor, author ofĀ Mama Day
ā[SilencesĀ is] āthe Bible.ā I constantly return to it.ā āSandra Cisneros, author ofĀ The House on Mango Street
āSilencesĀ will, likeĀ A Room of Oneās Own, be quoted where there is talk of the circumstances in which literature is possible.ā āAdrienne Rich, author ofĀ Diving into the Wreck
This book title, Silences, ISBN: 9781558614406, by Tillie Olsen, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, published by The Feminist Press at CUNY (April 1, 2003) is available in paperback. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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