Tell Me a Riddle"Tell Me a Riddle" renders an unforgettable portrait of a working class couple when the gender determined differences in their experiences of poverty and familial life give rise to bitter conflict after almost four decades of marriage. As she dies from cancer, Eva, the protagonist, recollects a revolutionary past that both critiques and offers hope for the present. Deborah Rosenfelt's introduction and the essays in this volume survey the critical reception of this highly acclaimed story, analyze its biographical and historical contexts, examine the text's language, structure, spiritual and moral significance, and illuminate Olsen's relationship to the American midwest, the American left, and the Jewish enlightenment tradition. This casebook includes an introduction by the editor, a chronology of Olsen's life, an authoritative text of "Tell Me a Riddle," relevant essays by Olsen, seven critical essays, and a bibliography. The contributors are: Joanne Trautmann Banks, Constance Coiner, Rachel Blau Duplessis, Mara Faulkner, Elaine Orr, Linda Ray Pratt, and Deborah Silverton Rosenfelt. |
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1905 revolution Alice Walker American Anna artist Aurora Leigh baby Carol characters Charlotte Perkins Gilman Communist consciousness creative criticism culture daughter David death discourse dominant Emily essay Eva's experience feel female feminist fiction Grandaddy hear heteroglossia Hey Sailor human hunger images Ivan Ilych Jack Olsen Jeannie Jewish Jews journey Künstlerromane Left literary literature lives Mazie meaning memories ment Meridel Le Sueur metaphor mother motherhood narrative narrator ness never North Omaha novel nurturance Olsen's writing Olshana Omaha parents poem political published quest Rachel Blau DuPlessis radical readers Rebecca Harding Davis reprinted response revolutionary Riddle role says silence social socialist song Stand Here Ironing story struggle suggests Tell thirties Tillie Lerner Tillie Olsen tion tradition vision voices Whitey woman women writers words working-class Workmen's Circle Yellow Wallpaper Yonnondio York