Mothers and Daughters: An Anthology - Softcover

Manguel, Alberto

3.71

17 ratings by Goodreads

9780811816298: Mothers and Daughters: An Anthology

Softcover

ISBN 10: 081181629X ISBN 13: 9780811816298

Publisher: Chronicle Books, 1998

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Turning his inspired anthologizing skills to two subjects we can all relate to, celebrated writer and editor Alberto Manguel offers his most fascinating literary collections yet. Manguel brings his quirky sensibility and instinct for exceptional writing to a core realm of human experience, presenting an outstanding array of international voices that delve into the mystery of these primary relationships. Both volumes feature an exceptional collection of complete short stories, each selection accompanied by a provocative introduction from the editor. With such writing talents as Richard Ford, Kensaburo Oe, Margaret Atwood, Bharati Mukherjee, Ethan Canin, Anita Desai, and many others, Mothers & Daughters and Fathers & Sons explode the typical and plunge us into a literary world at turns humorous, dark, touching, bizarre, and moving.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

How does modern fiction approach the fierce yet tender nature of mother-daughter relationships? In Mothers & Daughters, editor Alberto Manguel has collected 20 compelling short stories that reveal mothers through the eyes of their daughters, and vice versa.

In "Mama," Bastard Out of Carolina author Dorothy Allison's moving tribute to her mother, Allison reflects on her mother's life by remembering the physical details of her mother's body and comparing them to her own: "Nothing marks me so much her daughter as my hands--the way they are aging, the veins coming up through skin already thin. I tell myself they are beautiful as they recreate my mama's flesh in mine." Sara Jeannette Duncan's "A Mother in India" questions the biological bond between mother and daughter. And in "Lolita," Dorothy Parker turns her usual sardonic eye to a social butterfly mother and her drab, shapeless daughter who ends up winning the chisel-jawed heartthrob. In Bonnie Burchard's "Women of Influence" a grown daughter becomes the go-between for two sisters--her dying mother and her dying aunt: "I realize I have not been asked to bring my mother's forgiveness here. Or have I? Is my mother counting on me to pass it on or to live with it? I don't want her compromised." Each unique, lovely story has elements that will resonate with mothers and daughters everywhere. --Ericka Lutz

About the Author:

Alberto Manguel has edited six anthologies, including Black Water. Most recently, he authored A History of Reading. A voracious reader and literary sleuth, he lives in Canada.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.