A Line of Cutting Women - Softcover

Mcfarland, Beverly

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0934971625 ISBN 13: 9780934971621

Publisher: Calyx Books, 1998

Synopsis

Fiction and essay anthology. Women's Studies. In this anthology culled from twenty-two years of award-winning CALYX JOURNAL, a long line of writers share their visions of the worlds women create. What an extraordinary collection of worthwhile writing, brave in many cases, beautiful in almost all. A book to sit down with. I was able to remember my first reading of some of these stories -- many of them first publications -- and relive the excitement! (Grace Paley). Anyone who still doubts the existence of a multicultural 'women's culture' will be forever changed by this book -- and will have enjoyed a fine read in the bargain (Robin Morgan).

About this title

Review:

In 1976 while most of the U.S. was busy gearing up to celebrate the nation's bicentennial, another birthday was underway in the Pacific Northwest as a small group of women editors welcomed CALYX Journal into the world. Originally subtitled A Northwest Feminist Review, CALYX soon outgrew its geographic designation if not its feminist leanings. Over the years, it has published both established and emerging women writers and worked to advance the presence of literary women in a canon dominated by men. A Line of Cutting Women is an anthology gathered from the journal's first 22 years. In it you'll find stories whose authors cut across social, ethnic, and cultural strata, reflecting the diversity that CALYX strives to promote. Marianne Villanueva's "Siko," for example, examines tangled familial ties in an impoverished Filipino village while "Two Deserts" by Valerie Matsumoto follows the uneasy relationship between a Japanese American housewife and her Caucasian neighbors. Beth Bosworth's "Sheets" is a domestic drama about a mother, a daughter, and a long-buried incident of sexual abuse, while "Crow," by Linda Hogan is a tough, tender tale about old age. The stories and styles run the gamut, but their one common denominator is a shared female world view. A Line of Cutting Women is a remarkable collection of multicultural writing that only serves to underscore the universality of the human experience. --Margaret Prior

From Publishers Weekly:

Spanning the 22 impressive years of Calyx, A Journal of Art and Literature by Women, these 37 selected short stories offer brief but powerful glimpses into the lives of women. In "The Doe," by Molly Gloss, a woman runs over a pregnant doe and, seeking to relinquish the inevitable task of mercy killing to a man, learns that the gruesome task has less to do with gender than with assuming adult responsibility. Linda Hogan's "Crow," in which a feisty but lonely grandmother loses her life savings, resembles a Native American fable, expressing deep meaning without drawing obvious conclusions. Magic realism colors Kathleen J. Alcala's "The Transforming Eye," the tale of a sinister photographer and old family loves in Mexico. Kristen King's Pushcart Prize-winning "The Wings" is a marvelous allegory about a wild angel who visits a Mormon housewife nightly, disrupting the family's rigid, tightly controlled everyday life. Sandra Scofield's "Loving Leo" deals with love in old age; and, in the title story by Rita Marie Nibasa, a 17-year-old from a long "line of cutting women" becomes conscious of the hopelessness of domestic violence in her family and community. Avoiding the common trap of sacrificing quality for ideology, the editors of this anthology present exceptional, intelligent and stirring fiction.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Calyx Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0934971625
• ISBN 13: 9780934971621
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 286