Mountain Women in Fiction: Working without Nets
Eliza Gant is characterized in Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel as a stin-gy, hard-nosed businesswoman with little time for mothering the last of her nine children. Many mountain women like Wolfe’s mother Julia, on whom Gant was modeled, worked because they had to. Through feminism and fic-tion, readers can appreciate the difficult lives led by mountain women in the early twentieth century.
Join author and UNC-A’s Dean of Humanities Gwen McNeill Ashburn as she presents “Mountain Women in Fiction—Working Without Nets” and learn how au-thors like Wilma Dykeman, John Ehle, Robert Morgan, and Lee Smith, as well as Thomas Wolfe, portray women whose lives were far different from the stereotype of a Southern lady. Though fictional, their stories are important because they tell us of real mountain women who worked in mills and on farms, raised children and gardens, and fed families and animals — often alone and without any safety nets.
Brought to you by your Madison County Public Libraries!
WHEN: Wednesday, April 22
TIME: 1 pm
WHERE: Mars Hill Public Library
Hosted by the Friends of Mars Hill Library
Melanie U. Morgan, Library Director
Madison County Public Libraries
1335 N. Main Street
Marshall, NC 28753
(828) 649-3741