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Grace Paley, 1922-2007
by Joseph Face, Account Processor
Grace Paley, noted author and self-described "combative pacifist," whose small collection of poetry and short fiction conspired to voice the self-consciousness of the urban American woman, died on August 22, 2007, after a long battle with breast cancer.
Paley's stories were simplistic in narrative, yet rich in tone. Her characters, myriad expressions of herself, were typically opinionated, left-wing, and heavy gossipers. Poet Robert Pinsky described them as ". . . Completely lucid . . . . They take the materials of a life, and make those materials immensely beautiful - that's art." Paley's characters were often sympathetic, victims of various malaises, such as Faith, a female author in the short story "Conversations with my Father," who is reprimanded by her ailing 86-year old father for not writing "the kind [of book] Maupassant wrote, or Chekhov, the kind you used to write." Others of Paley's creation suffer the burden of raising children alone, or are abused, or bear other hardships, yet remain frank, often comical about their situation.
Paley's leads, particularly the female leads, crave emotional reciprocation. They desire love, strength, understanding, and compassion. Though they may never receive it, they are forever hopeful: salvation, or at least safety, to these women, is just around the corner. This is in stark contrast to the character of Grace Paley. She was a slave to the cause of civil disobedience and a proponent of progressivism. As such, she heeded many calls to action, whether it was civil rights for all minorities-blacks, women, gays, etc.-or protests against nuclear weapons, or the various wars during her lifetime. In 1978 she was arrested for unfurling an anti-nuclear banner on the White House lawn. To Paley, being arrested was proof that you were doing the right thing, and she wore the badge proudly.
In an interview with Salon Magazine, Ms. Paley described the moral obligation of writers thus: "Whatever your calling is, whether it's as a plumber or an artist, you have to make sure there's a little more justice in the world when you leave it than when you found it. Most writers do that naturally, see that more lives are illuminated, try to understand what is not understood and see what hasn't been seen."
Below is a list of related titles, available from YBP and Baker & Taylor. For your convenience, this list is also available in a MS Excel spreadsheet. click here
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• B&T • MAJORS • YBP
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• PUBLISHER: PENGUIN USA
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