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An Interview with Dorothy Allison

An Interview with Dorothy Allison an interview with DOROTHY ALLISON Conducted by Michael LeMahieu orothy Allison is best known as the author of Bastard Out of Carolina (1992), which was a finalist for the National Book Award and has become a touchstone in scholarly treatments of class, gender, sexuality, trauma, and violence in contemporary literature. Like many good titles, Bastard Out of Carolina invites multiple interpretations, "out" and "of" combining to mean either "part of" or "external to," "shaped by" or "banished from"--connotations that parallel Allison's complex relationship to her personal narrative of place and class, trauma and memory. Allison was born in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1949, "the bastard child of a teenage mother from a desperately poor family," as she has remarked on more than one occasion. Her work reflects that background with unsparing criticism and caring concern, a combination that is simultaneously unflinching and endearing. Allison has lived "out of" South Carolina for more than three decades, first in Florida and New York, then more permanently in Northern California. She writes from a perspective that is "out of Carolina" in several senses, combining the detachment of an external observer--Allison did graduate work in anthropology--with the texture of firsthand, lived experience. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Contemporary Literature University of Wisconsin Press

An Interview with Dorothy Allison

LeMahieu, Michael.
Contemporary Literature , Volume 51 (4) – Apr 2, 2011
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University of Wisconsin Press
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Copyright © University of Wisconsin Press
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1548-9949
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Abstract

an interview with DOROTHY ALLISON Conducted by Michael LeMahieu orothy Allison is best known as the author of Bastard Out of Carolina (1992), which was a finalist for the National Book Award and has become a touchstone in scholarly treatments of class, gender, sexuality, trauma, and violence in contemporary literature. Like many good titles, Bastard Out of Carolina invites multiple interpretations, "out" and "of" combining to mean either "part of" or "external to," "shaped by" or "banished from"--connotations that parallel Allison's complex relationship to her personal narrative of place and class, trauma and memory. Allison was born in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1949, "the bastard child of a teenage mother from a desperately poor family," as she has remarked on more than one occasion. Her work reflects that background with unsparing criticism and caring concern, a combination that is simultaneously unflinching and endearing. Allison has lived "out of" South Carolina for more than three decades, first in Florida and New York, then more permanently in Northern California. She writes from a perspective that is "out of Carolina" in several senses, combining the detachment of an external observer--Allison did graduate work in anthropology--with the texture of firsthand, lived experience.

Journal

Contemporary Literature – University of Wisconsin Press

Published: Apr 2, 2011

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