Contemporary Irish-American Women Writers (7/1/03; collection)
Contemporary Irish-American Women Writers
Where are the contemporary women novelists in Irish Studies? Why is no
one writing about them? Not until Charles Fanning's survey of
Irish-American fiction from the 1760s to the 1980s, The Irish Voice in
America, was there any extended, critical, contextualized discussion of
these women. Fanning's closing chapter mentions popular novelists
Colleen McCullough, Joan Bagnell, Carol O'Brien Blum, and Caryl Rivers;
discusses the works of Elizabeth Savage, Elaine Ford, Susanna Moore,
Diana O'Hehir, Mary Gordon, and Ellen Currie; and pays tribute to
Elizabeth Cullinan and Maureen Howard. Despite Fanning's survey and
introduction, there were no collections of Irish-American women's
writing until 1997. Caledonia Kearns' Cabbage and Bones and her
subsequent collection, Motherland introduced short stories and excerpts
from the novels of 20th century Irish-American women. Little has been
done since.
We propose to fill this gap. We are soliciting essays which introduce
the works of Irish-American women novelists for an edited collection
tentatively titled Contemporary Irish-American Women Writers. These
essays should describe the authors' key works, draw on relevant
criticism, discuss how they are representative of Irish-American voices,
and contextualize these findings by including an interview with the
author. They should also be jargon-free and accessible to readers
outside the academy. In addition to the authors listed above, we are
also interested in the works of Alice McDermott, Joyce Carol Oates, Anna
Quindlen, Alice Munro, Jean McGarry, Tess Gallagher, Maura Stanton, Mary
McGarry Morris, Eileen Myles, Kathleen Ford, Eileen Fitzgerald, Valerie
Sayers, Gabrielle Donnelly, Madelaine Blais, Maeve Brennan, Mary Doyle
Curran, and Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Deadline for submission: July 1, 2003.
In the meantime, we are open to questions and would be happy to review
abstracts.
Contact Sally Barr Ebest at sebest@umsl.edu ;
contact Kathleen McInerney at k-mcinerney@csu.edu .
