Writers and Their Mothers by Dale Salwak

Writers and Their Mothers by Dale Salwak

Ian McEwan, Margaret Drabble, Martin Amis, Rita Dove, Andrew Motion  and Anthony Thwaite are among the twenty-two distinguished contributors of original essays to this landmark volume on the profound and frequently perplexing bond between writer and mother. In compelling detail they bring to life the thoughts, work, loves, friendships, passions and, above all, the influence of mothers upon their literary offspring from Shakespeare to the present.

Many of the contributors evoke the ideal with fond and loving memories: understanding, selfless, spiritual, tender, protective, reassuring and self-assured mothers who created environments favorable to the development of their children’s gifts.

At the opposite end of the parenting spectrum, however, we also see tortured mothers who ignored, interfered with, smothered or abandoned their children.  Their early years were times of traumatic loss, unhappily dominated by death and human frailty.

Elegantly assembled and presented, Writers and Their Mothers will appeal to everyone interested in biography, literature, and creativity in general.

“In this lively collection of essays, the legacy of maternal blessings (which they mostly describe) is thoughtfully and skilfully unpacked..“ (The Guardian's Book of the Week in March 2018)

“What a great project, I just can't believe that no one has done it before.” (Times Literary Supplement podcast, March 8, 2018)
“In each case, these women are shown to be different to one another, whether in strength or foible, all wielding a unique influence over their children, and en masse, this makes for a compelling, and varied read. In his collection, Salwak simply asserts that good writing is likely to flourish because of, or in spite of, a mother’s influence. In considering how far such an arc of influence might stretch, the enduring strength of these essays … .” (Julia O'Mahony, The Irish Times, irishtimes.com, April, 2018)

Dale Salwakis a professor of English at southern California's Citrus College and a recipient of Purdue University's Distinguished Alumni Award as well as a National Defense Education Act fellowship from the University of Southern California where he earned his Ph.D. He is the author of numerous books, including Kingsley Amis: Modern Novelist and Carl Sandburg: A Reference Guide, and the editor of The Wonders of Solitude, Anne Tyler as Novelist (Iowa, 1994), Philip Larkin: The Man and His Work (Iowa, 1989), and The Life and Work of Barbara Pym (Iowa, 1987).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9783319683478
ISBN 10	3319683470
Title	Writers and Their Mothers
Author	Dale Salwak
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Springer International Publishing AG
Year published	2018-02-27
Number of pages	258
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.