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The spectator bird / by Stegner, Wallace,1909-1993,author.; Smiley, Jane,author of introduction.;
Joe Allston is a cantankerous, retired literary agent who is, in his own words, "just killing time until time gets around to killing me." His parents and his only son are long dead, leaving him with neither ancestors nor descendants, tradition nor ties. His job, trafficking the talent of others, has not been his choice. He has passed through life as a spectator, before retreating to the woods of California in the 1970s with only his wife, Ruth, by his side. When an unexpected postcard from a long-lost friend arrives, Allston returns to the journals of a trip he has taken years before, a journey to his mother's birthplace where he once sought a link with his past. Uncovering this history floods Allston with memories, both grotesque and poignant, and finally vindicates him of his past and lays bare that Joe Allston has never been quite spectator enough.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Older men; Diaries; Americans; Danish Americans; Married people; Marriage; Marital status.; Living arrangements.; Married people.; Marriage.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A thousand acres / by Smiley, Jane,author.(CARDINAL)508967; Hughes-Hallett, Lucy,writer of introduction.(CARDINAL)353921;
National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction, 1991."The only hardcover edition of Jane Smiley's most famous novel--King Lear on an Iowa farm--which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992. With a new introduction. This powerful twentieth-century reimagining of Shakespeare's King Lear centers on a wealthy Iowa farmer who decides to divide his farm among his three daughters. When the youngest objects, she is cut out of his will, which sets in motion a chain of events that brings dark truths to light. Ambitiously conceived and stunningly written, A Thousand Acres spins the most fundamental themes of truth, justice, love, and pride into a universally acclaimed masterpiece"--Includes bibliographical references and chronology.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Inheritance and succession; Parent and adult child; Fathers and daughters; Aging parents; Family farms; Farm life; Sisters;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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My Ántonia / by Cather, Willa,1873-1947,author.(CARDINAL)150189; Smiley, Jane,writer of introduction.(CARDINAL)508967;
The Shimerdas -- The hired girls -- Lena Lingard -- The pioneer woman's story -- Cuzak's boys.A New York lawyer remembers his boyhood in Nebraska and his friendship with a pioneer Bohemian girl.
Subjects: Western fiction.; Domestic fiction.; Women immigrants; Farmers' spouses; Czech Americans; Women pioneers; Married women; Friendship; Farm life;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A strange life : selected essays of Louisa May Alcott / by Alcott, Louisa May,1832-1888,author.(CARDINAL)146697; Rosenberg, Liz,editor,writer of introduction.(CARDINAL)355440; Smiley, Jane,writer of preface.(CARDINAL)508967;
Preface by Jane Smiley -- Introduction by Liz Rosenburg -- How I went out to service -- Transcendental wild oats -- from sketch of childhood -- from letters from Dinan -- from women of Brittany -- from the flood in Rome and visit from a king -- My boys -- from happy women -- Hospital sketches."Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) is, of course, best known as the author of Little Women (1868). But she was also a noted essayist who wrote on a wide range of subjects, including her father's failed utopian commune, the benefits of an unmarried life, and her experience as a young woman sent to work in service to alleviate her family's poverty. Her first literary success was a contemporary close-up account of the American Civil War, brilliantly depicted in Hospital Sketches, which was drawn from her own experience of serving as an army nurse near the nation's capital. As with her famous novel, Alcott writes these essays with clear observation, unforgettable scenes, and one of the sharpest wits in American literature. Blending gentle satire with reportage and emotive autobiography, Alcott's exquisite essays are as exceptional as the novels she is known for. Published together for the first time, this delightful selection shows us another side to one of our most celebrated writers."--
Subjects: Essays.; Biographies.; Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888.; Women authors, American;
Available copies: 7 / Total copies: 7
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Journey to the centre of the earth / by Verne, Jules,1828-1905,author.(CARDINAL)142733; Wynne, Frank,translator.(CARDINAL)658002; Cogman, Peter,editor.(CARDINAL)762752; Smiley, Jane,writer of introduction.(CARDINAL)508967;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-252)."Jules Verne's pioneering classic tells the story of the distinguished but eccentric Professor Lidenbrock, who finds a scrap of parchment in an old manuscript. A cipher, written in runes, tells of an entrance to another world - a world hidden beneath our own. So with his nephew reluctantly in tow, the Professor follows this cryptic clue down into a dormant volcano, and the further they descend, the more extraordinary the discoveries and creatures that they encounter, the greater the dangers, and the more ancient the living past that surrounds them." "This new translation by Frank Wynne is accompanied by an introduction on the science of Verne's work and its influences. This edition also includes notes, a chronology and suggested further reading."--Jacket.1000L
Subjects: Novels.; Voyages, Imaginary;
Available copies: 8 / Total copies: 8
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Uncle Tom's cabin, or, Life among the lowly / by Stowe, Harriet Beecher,1811-1896.(CARDINAL)145167; Smiley, Jane,author (introduction)(CARDINAL)508967;
A devoutly Christian slave becomes separated from his wife and family when he is sold to the brutal planter, Simon Legree.Accelerated Reader AR
Subjects: Didactic fiction.; Political fiction.; Uncle Tom (Fictitious character); Master and servant; African Americans; Fugitive slaves; Plantation life; Slavery; Enslaved persons;
Available copies: 4 / Total copies: 10
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Christmas Pudding & Pigeon Pie / by Mitford, Nancy,1904-1973.(CARDINAL)129026; Smiley, Jane.(CARDINAL)508967; Mitford, Nancy,1904-1973.Pigeon Pie.;
"Christmas Pudding and Pigeon Pie are two sparkling comedies from early in the career of Nancy Mitford, beloved author of The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, here published in one volume with a new introduction by Jane Smiley. In Christmas Pudding, an array of colorful characters converge on the hunt-obsessed Lady Bobbin's country house, including her rebellious daughter Philadelphia, the girl's pompous suitor, a couple of children obsessed with newspaper death notices, and an aspiring writer whose serious first novel has been acclaimed as the funniest book of the year, to his utter dismay. In Pigeon Pie, set at the outbreak of World War II, Lady Sophia Garfield dreams of becoming a beautiful spy but manages not to notice a nest of German agents right under her nose, until the murder of her maid and kidnapping of her beloved bulldog force them on her attention, with heroic results. Delivered with a touch lighter than that of Mesitford's later masterpieces but no less entertaining, these comedies combine glamour, wit, and fiendishly absurd plots into irresistible literary confections"--"Two early comic novels by British novelist Nancy Mitford, here combined in one volume with a new introduction by Jane Smiley"--
Subjects: Christmas fiction.; Humorous fiction.; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 3 / Total copies: 4
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Knitting yarns : writers on knitting / by Hood, Ann,1956-editor of compilation.(CARDINAL)344371;
Includes bibliographical references.A collection of essays about the transformative power of knitting from 27 contemporary authors, including Ann Patchett, Barbara Kingsolver, John Dufresne, and Joyce Maynard.
Subjects: Trivia and miscellanea.; Knitting.; Knitting; Knitters (Persons);
Available copies: 14 / Total copies: 16
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A delicate aggression : savagery and survival in the Iowa Writers' Workshop / by Dowling, David Oakey,1967-author.(CARDINAL)500514;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 349-402) and index."As the world's preeminent creative writing program, the Iowa Writers' Workshop has produced an astonishing number of distinguished writers and poets since its establishment in 1936. Its alumni and faculty include twenty-eight Pulitzer Prize winners, six U.S. poet laureates, and numerous National Book Award winners. This volume follows the program from its rise to prominence in the early 1940s under director Paul Engle, who promoted the "workshop" method of classroom peer criticism. Meant to simulate the rigors of editorial and critical scrutiny in the publishing industry, this educational style created an environment of both competition and community, cooperation and rivalry. Focusing on some of the exceptional authors who have participated in the program--such as Flannery O'Connor, Dylan Thomas, Kurt Vonnegut, Jane Smiley, Sandra Cisneros, T.C. Boyle, and Marilynne Robinso--David Dowling examines how the Iowa Writers' Workshop has shaped professional authorship, publishing industries, and the course of American literature"--Page 2 of cover.Introduction -- 1. The brilliant misfit : Flannery O'Connor -- 2. The star : W.D. Snodgrass -- 3. The suicide : Robert Shelley -- 4. The professional : R.V. Cassill -- 5. The guru : Marguerite Young -- 6. The turncoat : Robert Lowell -- 7. Mad poets : Dylan Thomas and John Berryman -- 8. Celebrity faculty : Kurt Vonnegut and John Irving -- 9. Infidels : Sandra Cisneros and Joy Harjo -- 10. The crossover : Rita Dove -- 11. The genius : Jane Smiley -- 12. Red high-tops for life : T.C. Boyle -- 13. The mystic : Marilynne Robinson -- 14. The warrior : Anthony Swofford -- 15. The voice : Ayana Mathis and mass culture -- Epilogue : no monument : Engle's legacy and the Workshop's future.
Subjects: Iowa Writers' Workshop.; Creative writing (Higher education); Authorship;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The midwestern novel : literary populism from Huckleberry Finn to the present / by Bunge, Nancy L.(CARDINAL)738068;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-192) and index.Introduction -- Conformity's consequences -- The redemptive potential of childhood -- Valuing women's passion -- The African-American dimension -- Surrendering to nature -- Relaxing into compassion.With Huckleberry Finn, American fiction changed radically and shifted its setting to the middle of the country. A focus on social issues replaced the philosophic and psychological explorations that dominated the work of Melville and Hawthorne. Colloquial speech rather than elevated language articulated these fresh ideas, while common folk rather than dramatic characters like Ahab and Hester Prynne played central roles. This transformation of American literature has been largely ignored, while during the 130 years since Huckleberry Finn the Midwest has continued to produce writers whose work, like Twain's, addresses injustice by portraying the decency of ordinary people. Since the end of the 19th century, Midwestern authors have dismissed the elite and celebrated those whom the power structure typically excludes: children, women, African-Americans and the lower classes. Instead of wealth and power, this literature values authenticity and compassion. The book explores this literary tradition by examining the work of 30 Midwestern writers including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Willa Cather, Ernest Hemingway, Richard Wright, Saul Bellow, Toni Morrison, Jonathan Franzen, Jane Smiley and Louise Erdrich. -- Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Populism in literature.; American fiction; American fiction;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Results 1 to 10 of 15 |