Seeds of change : critical essays on Barbara Kingsolver / edited by Priscilla Leder.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Leder, Priscilla Gay.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kingsolver, Barbara--Criticism and interpretation.

Kingsolver, Barbara.

Ecology in literature.

Identity (Psychology) in literature.

Social justice in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (309 p.)

Edition:

1版.

Place of Publication:

Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Barbara Kingsolver's books have sold millions of copies. The Poisonwood Bible was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and her work is studied in courses ranging from English-as-a-second-language classes to seminars in doctoral programs. Yet, until now, there has been relatively little scholarly analysis of her writings. Seeds of Change: Critical Essays on Barbara Kingsolver, edited by Priscilla V. Leder, is the first collection of essays examining the full range of Kingsolver's literary output. The articles in this new volume provide analysis, context, and commentary on all of Kingsolver's novels, her poetry, her two essay collections, and her full-length nonfiction memoir, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Professor Leder begins Seeds of Change with a brief critical biography that traces Kingsolver's development as a writer. Leder also includes an overview of the scholarship on Kingsolver's oeuvre. Organized by subject matter, the 14 essays in the book are divided into three sections tha deal with recurrent themes in Kingsolver's compositions: identity, social justice, and ecology. The pieces in this ground-breaking volume draw upon contemporary critical approaches-ecocritical, postcolonial, feminist, and disability studies-to extend established lines of inquiry into Kingsolver's writing and to take them in new directions. By comparing Kingsolver with earlier writers such as Joseph Conrad and Henry David Thoreau, the contributors place her canon in literary context and locate her in cultural contexts by revealing how she re-works traditional narratives such as the Western myth. They also address the more controversial aspects of her writings, examining her political advocacy and her relationship to her reader, in addition to exploring her vision of a more just and harmonious world. Fully indexed with a comprehensive works-cited section, Seeds of Change gives scholars and students important insight and analysis which will deepen and broaden their understanding and experience of Barbara Kingsolver's work.

Contents:

Gardens of auto parts : American western myth and Native American myth in The bean trees / Catherine Himmelwright

To live deliberately : feminist theory in action in High tide in Tucson / Maureen Meharg Kentoff

Women, a dark continent : The poisonwood bible as a feminist response to Conrad's Heart of darkness / Heloïse Meire

Trauma and memory in Animal dreams / Sheryl Stevenson

"Hemmed in" : place, disability, and maternity in Animal dreams and The poisonwood Bible / Breyan Strickler

"Give me your hand" : accessibility, commitment, and the challenge of cliche in Kingsolver's poetry / Meagan Evans

Wild Indians : Kingsolver's representation of native America / Robin Cohen

The white imagination at work in Pigs in heaven / Jeanne Sokolowski

Imagined geographies / Kristin J. Jacobson

Earthbound rhetoric and praxis : authentic patriotism in a time of abstractions / Wes Berry

Remembering our ecological place : environmental engagement in Kingsolver's nonfiction / Christine Cusick

Contingency, cultivation, and choice : the garden ethic in Prodigal summer / Priscilla Leder

Celebrating a lively earth : children, nature, and the role of mentors in Prodigal summer / Susan Hanson

Together at the table : Animal, vegetable, miracle and Thoreau's Wild fruits / Gioia Woods.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9786613098511

9781283098519

1283098512

9781572337350

1572337354

OCLC:

699521079