Sue Monk Kidd : a collection of critical essays / edited by Deborah J. Kuhlmann ; foreword by Sue Monk Kidd.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McClenagan, Cindy, author.

Heath, Erin (Erin C.), author.

Mayfield, Arch, 1948- author.

Contributor:

Kuhlmann, Deborah Jane, 1947- editor, author.

Kidd, Sue Monk, writer of foreword.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kidd, Sue Monk--Criticism and interpretation.

Kidd, Sue Monk.

American essays--Texas.

American essays.

Texas.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Essays.

Physical Description:

xi, 110 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Fort Worth, Texas : TCU Press, [2023]

Summary:

"In keeping with the traditional academic genre of collected essays, Sue Monk Kidd: A Collection of Critical Essays offers seven analytic studies of several of Kidd's novels, including The Invention of Wings, The Secret Life of Bees and The Book of Longings plus the film version of The Secret Life of Bees to bring expanded perspectives to her work for avid readers as well as academics. These literary essays can serve as examples for students of literature, find a place in college English classrooms as well as libraries for both secondary and higher education, and appeal to scholars of American literature. A discourse is launched here, regarding Kidd's place in postcolonialism, identity, feminism, voice, perception, spirituality and humor. Much like other notable Southern authors before her, namely William Faulkner, Kate Chopin, Tennessee Williams, Alice Walker, Carson McCullers, Flannery O'Connor, Zora Neale Hurston, and Harper Lee, Kidd's vision is more tragedy than morality play or melodrama, closer to Realism but not without Romanticism. These essays reveal how oppression, abuse, abandonment, injustice and human tragedies find their way into Kidd's novels, where they are met not with an easy or tension-free resolution, and yet, love, humor, insight, transcendence, and grit are also rendered in the face of inhumane difficulties. Sue Monk Kidd's world view is at once inclusive and expansive, transitional and transformative, heart breaking and healing, and this collection imparts that, inviting more scholarly discourse and investigation of her exceptional works"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Foreword / Sue Monk Kidd

Introduction / Deborah J. Kuhlmann

Postcolonialism and the Pursuit of Identity in The Invention of Wings / Cindy McClenagan

A Flying Leap of Faith: The Invention of Wings / Deborah J. Kuhlmann

She May Bee like Jesus: African American Female Christ Figure in The Secret Life of Bees / Erin Heath

Secrets of Being in The Secret Life of Bees / Deborah J. Kuhlmann

The Power of Poetic Perception in The Secret Life of Bees / Deborah J. Kuhlmann

Humor and the Art of Survival in The Secret Life of Bees / Arch Mayfield and Deborah J. Kuhlmann

A Thread of Her Own: The Book of Longings / Deborah J. Kuhlmann

Acknowledgments / Deborah J. Kuhlmann

Contributors.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Contains:

McClenagan, Cindy. Postcolonialism and the pursuit of identity in The invention of wings.

Other Format:

Online version: Sue Monk Kidd

ISBN:

9780875658155

0875658156

OCLC:

1346622547