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Analyzes the short stories of a turn-of-the-century regionalist writer who depicted New England village life. After a close reading of themes, techniques, and styles of two stories, later chapters survey Freeman's short fiction during three phases of her career, with individual analysis of selected stories combining a New Critical approach with elements of reader-response, psychological, feminist, and revisionist criticism. Includes a collection of essays and letters by Freeman on her own work and on writing in general, plus a chronology. For students of English and women's studies. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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CHOICE Review

This solid study by a leading Freeman specialist is divided into three major sections: "The Short Fiction," "The Writer," and "The Critics." Students will use part 1 most: it includes assessments of Freeman's aims and methods, bolstered by critiques of individual and grouped stories. Sidelights on Freeman's creativity in other genres illuminate the whole corpus. Part 2 reprints some of Freeman's significant critical writings, several long and difficult to access (e.g., that on Wuthering Heights). Part 3 excerpts four critiques of that warhorse story "A New England Nun," along with brief comments by Reichardt. The author rightly notes that feminist approaches alone have not revived Freeman's status. Reichardt's general drift is far less neo-Freudian/personal than Leah Blatt Glasser's in her biography In a Closet Hidden (CH, Dec'96)--which is cited in the bibliography, though not discussed in the text. Freeman's supernatural stories, typically, get short shrift (but see Douglas Robillard's edited volume American Supernatural Fiction, 1996) but greater sympathy than others have offered. Reichardt cites fresh examples of Freeman's short stories, not just the handful of familiar titles, so she opens windows and provides a fresh look at Freeman's achievements. A "must-have" book for all levels. B. F. Fisher IV University of Mississippi

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Author Mary E. Wilkins Freeman was born in Randolph, Massachusetts on October 31, 1852. She attended Mount Holyoke College for one year and later finished her education at West Brattleboro Seminary. As a teenager, she began writing stories and verse for children in order to help support her family. She continued to write short stories, novels, poetry, and children's works throughout her life. Her best known works are A Humble Romance and Other Stories, A New England Nun and Other Stories, and Pembroke. Her characters were usually older women who confronted and asserted their independence in the changing social structure of rural New England.

In April 1926, the American Academy of Arts and Letters presented her with the first William Dean Howells Medal for Distinction in Fiction. She was also inducted into the National Institute of Arts and Letters. She died of a heart attack on March 13, 1930 in Metuchen, New Jersey.

(Bowker Author Biography)