American Writers (One Hundred Pages at a Time)

It has been a long series but we have come to the end of the study of Mary McCarthy with my final look at CANNIBALS AND MISSIONARIES. Next up: Three quick episodes on Jane Bowles.

Part two of my review of CANNIBALS AND MISSIONARIES by Mary McCarthy. Uploading two in one day because of internet troubles in China causing delays. 

Terrorism, liberalism, art, and class are all explored in depth in Mary McCarthy's last novel CANNIBALS AND MISSIONARIES. I am not sure it is worth a visit, but it certainly is worth knowing about.

The finale of my review of Mary McCarthy's BIRDS OF AMERICA.

While I cannot say I am a very fond of Mary McCarthy's final two novels, BIRDS OF AMERICA does have some interesting discussions about art, revolution, the expat life, and family. Check it out, or not.

The finale of my review of Mary McCarthy's THE GROUP. This is a must read novel if you want to know the philosophy behind second wave feminism and an overall great novel.

Part 2 of my review of Mary McCarthy's THE GROUP. A great novel of second-wave feminism and perhaps McCarthy's most well-known work. It is a profound look at the struggles professional women faced in the 1930s with spoke directly to the 1960s, when it was written.

Part one of my review of Mary McCarthy's THE GROUP. THE GROUP is a classic text of second-wave feminism in which a group of educated women deal with various social inequalities. In this first part we meet the "Group" and talk about class, birth control, and sexual freedom.

In A CHARMED LIFE, Mary McCarthy explores intellectual bohemians and their quite odd lives. At the center of this story is an affair between a married woman and her domineering ex-husband. The tragedy comes when she finds she might be pregnant, but who is the father?

Mary McCarthy's A CHARMED LIFE is a pretty interesting story about suburbia, adultery, and in-typical McCarthy fashion-intellectuals and artists acting bizarrely. Worth a read.

The conclusion of my review of Mary McCarthy's THE GROVES OF ACADEME. Overall, a really fun novel about the delusional and petty world of academia that still has a contemporary feel. 

In THE GROVES OF ACADEME Mary McCarthy studies the insane world at a small liberal college. Like all of the other groups McCarthy studies, the whole is certainly less than the sum of its parts.

Onto the second Mary McCarthy novel in this episode. THE OASIS is about an intentional community of crazy intellectuals doing crazy, petty, and stupid stuff. Sounds like a university.

What a great novel! I finish my thoughts on Mary McCarthy's debut novel THE COMPANY SHE KEEPS in this episode. These chapters look at American Trotskyism and the psychological confessional.

We begin a new series looking into the early works of the brilliant Mary McCarthy. In this episode we begin with THE COMPANY SHE KEEPS, a novel of interconnected stories dealing with the contradictions in the life of a modern American woman.

This is the finale episode covering the stories in THE FUTURE IS FEMALE written since 1963. One of the highlights of this section is Ursula K Le Guin's "Nine Lives" about cloning and individualism. Overall a nice anthology. Next up, Mary McCarthy.

This episode continues my review of the THE FUTURE IS FEMALE anthology. I look at stories from the 1960s. Women writers in during the "New Wave" era looked at themes of gender, population, family, and sexuality with a bit more intensity.

A few more stories from THE FUTURE IS FEMALE anthology. These are stories from the mid-1950s, including Zenna Henderson's "Ararat" and Alice Jones' "Created He Them" (a forerunner of A HANDMAID'S TALE)

This episode looks at three stories from THE FUTURE IS FEMALE edited by Lisa Yaszek. These stories cover the years 1945 to 1951 and include Wilmar Shiras' "In Hiding".

In this episode I look at five stories collected in THE FUTURE IS FEMALE edited by Lisa Yaszek. Clare Winger Harris, "The Miracle of the Lily" Leslie F. Stone, "The Conquest of Gola" C. L. Moore, "The Black God's Kiss" Lesli Perri, "Space Episode" Judith Merril, "That Only a Mother"

Willa Cather wrote SAPPHIRA AND THE SLAVE GIRL in 1940. This novel takes us back to pre-Civil War Virginia and looks at the sexual politics in a slave-owning household. Perhaps it is not her best novel, but it certainly gets the sexual tension in such households correct.

This episode includes my thoughts on LUCY GAYHEART by Willa Cather. This novel tells the story of a naive young woman who falls in love with a married singer in Chicago. But her silliness does not excuse her scorned suitor from feeling he has been put into the imaginary "friendzone". That was a thing in the 1920s too? Men never change.

We say good bye to colonial French Canada and another of Willa Cather's excellent novels in part two of my review of SHADOWS ON THE ROCK. I loved the characters and setting in this one.

What was life like on late 17th century French Canada? I have no idea, but Willa Cather paints a nice picture of a socially diverse but united community. And in good Cather style we see the conflict between the evolving frontier and the home culture.

Spoiler alert. He dies. In this episode, I look at the the second half of DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather. We continue to follow two priests who play a role in taming the New Mexico frontier, for better or for (probably) worse.