Rivers of light : the life of Claire Myers Owens / Miriam Kalman Friedman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Friedman, Miriam Kalman, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Authors, American--20th century--Biography.

Authors, American.

Owens, Claire Myers.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 437 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Syracuse, New York : Syracuse University Press, [2019]

Summary:

Growing up in a conservative, middle-class family in Texas, Claire Myers Owens sought adventure and freedom at an early age. At twenty years old, she left home and quickly found a community of like-minded free spirits and intellectuals in New York's Greenwich Village. There Owens wrote novels and short stories, including the controversial novel The Unpredictable Adventure: A Comedy of Woman's Independence, which was banned by the New York Public Library for its "risqué" content. Drawn to ideals of selfactualization and creative freedom, Owens became a key figure in the Human Potential Movement along with founder Abraham Maslow and Aldous Huxley, and became an ardent follower of Carl Jung. In her later years, Owens devoted her life to the practice of Zen Buddhism, moving to Rochester, NY, where she joined the Zen Center and studied under Roshi Philip Kapleau. She published her final book, Zen and the Lady, at the age of eighty-three. Friedman's rediscovery of Owens brings well-deserved attention to her little known yet extraordinary life and passionate spirit. Drawing upon autobiographies, letters, journals, and novels, Friedman chronicles Owens's robust intellect and her tumultuous private life and, along the way, shows readers what makes her story significant. With very few role models in the early twentieth century, Owens blazed her own path of independence and enlightenment.

Contents:

Introduction: the wind

Smug harbor: 1896-1912

A bundle of contradictions: 1909-1913

Rote Hill: 1913-1916

Be wise: 1916-1917

Nithking: 1917-1919

New chimera: 1919-1920

Rivers of light: 1921-1931

If it's predictable: 1928-1935

Parallel letters/parallel lives: 1930-1935

"The wolfe" at the door: 1935-1937

Expiedway ten: 1937-1949

Awakening: discovery of the self: 1949-1963

The lady and her court: 1963-1969

The end is the beginning: 1970-1976

"Grande amoureuse": 1976-1983.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 361-399, 401-406) and index.

ISBN:

9780815654797

0815654790