Lisa Alther

University of North Carolina at Asheville D. Hiden Ramsey Library Special Collections Lisa Alther (b. 1944) Southern Appalachian Writers Collection M2005.05.01-08

Title	Lisa Alther
Creator	Southern Highlands Research Center
Alt. Creator	D. H. Ramsey Library
Identifier	http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/mss/southern_appalachian_writers/alther_lisa/alther_lisa.htm
Subject Keyword	Lisa Alther ; Southern Appalachian Writers ; Appalachia
Subject LCSH	Alther, Lisa, 1944 - American literature -- Appalachian Region, Southern -- History and criticism American literature -- Appalachian Mountains -- History and criticism Appalachians (People) in literature Appalachian Region, Southern -- Description and travel
Description	The collection contains a letter of correspondence, ephemera, a photograph, a book jacket, and anecdotal information on the writer. These materials were gathered as part of an exhibition of Southern Appalachian Writers held at UNCA in the early 1980's and sponsored by D. H. Ramsey Library and the Southern Highlands Research Center.
Publisher	D. H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville 28804
Contributor	Annette Hatley
Date	2005-08-23
Type	Collection ; text ; photograph ;
Format	1 folder ; text ; image ;
Source	M2005.05.1-8
Language	English
Relation	Women in Western North Carolina, Southern Appalachian Writers in "A Sense of Place, "The Heritage of Western North Carolina, D. H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville
Coverage	1900's - present ; Tennessee ;
Rights	Any display, publication, or public use must credit the D. H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville. Copyright retained by the creators of certain items in the collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. Some materials in collections are electronic rights only. Please ask for assistance from Special Collections staff.
Donor	240
Acquisition	2004-03-
Citation	Lisa Alther in Southern Appalachian Writers Collection, D. H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville 28804
Processed by	Special Collections staff, 2005
Last update	2008-07-22
Statement on writing	"I first understood that my passion for petty particulars, my need to visualize a scene before I can begin to cope with it, is not just a personal whim but rather a trait I share with other Southerners. "The values of the Southern Renascence South seem sadly inapplicable now. But the acquisitive values of this New Improved South seem repulsive. Whether or not books that attempt to resolve this tension will be written, whether or not heirs to the Southern Renascence will emerge, remains to be seen."
Biography	A native Tennessean, Lisa (pronounced "Liza") Alther, was born on 23 July 1944. Her undergraduate work was done at Wellesley College where, in 1966, she earned her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. With the publication of her first novel, Kinflicks, in 1976, Alther emerged as one of Southern Appalachia's up-and-coming new talents. Six more novels, as well as a host of articles and reviews, were to follow. Most recently, Alther has published Kinfolks (2007), a non-fiction work detailing Alther's research into her Melungeon heritage. She currently resides in Vermont.
Bibliography	*BOOKS BY*
1976 1981 1984 1990 1993 1995 2007	Kinflicks. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1976. Original Sins. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1981. Other Women. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1984. Bedrock. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1990. Birdman and the Dancer. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1993. Five Minutes in Heaven. New York: Dutton, 1995. Kinfolks. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2007.
	*STORIES BY*
1976 1986 1989 1994	"Encounter." McCall's v. 103, #11 (Aug.). "Termites." Homewords, ed. Douglas Paschall and Alice Swanson. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1986. "The Politics of Paradise." Louder than Words, ed. William Shore. New York: Random House, 1989. "Silver Moon Bay." By the Light of the Silvery Moon, ed. Ruth Petrie. London: Virago Press, 1994.
	*ARTICLES & REVIEWS BY*
1971	"Autumn Mood." Vermont Freeman (Nov.). "Relevance in the Nursery." Vermont Freeman v. 3, #24 (Dec.).
1972	"The French Connection." Vermont Freeman (Feb.). "Dandelion Wine." Vermont Freeman v. 4, #6 (Spring). "A Candy Recipe." Vermont Freeman v. 4, #12 (June). "Things That Go Bump in the Night." Vermont Freeman v. 4, #13 (July). "Sufism: A Book Review." Vermont Freeman v. 4, #17 (Sept.). "Organic Farming on Trial." Natural History v. 81, #9 (Nov.).
1973	"Whole Food Cookery." Yankee v. 37, #4 (Apr.). "Ecology Fantasy." Vermont Freeman v. 5, #15 (Aug.).
1974	"Mail Order Religion." New Society v. 27, #590 (Jan.). "Finding Your Rhythm." Vermont Freeman v. 6, #6 (Spring). "Vermont Coop Spins a Comeback for Wool." New Englander v. 21, #5 (Sept.).
1975	"The Snake Handlers." New Society v. 34, #687 (Dec.).
1976	"The Melungeon Melting Pot." New Society v. 36, #706 (Apr.). "A Forest Full of Fiddleheads." New Times v. 6, #10 (May). "They Shall Take Up Serpents." New York Times Sunday Magazine (6 June). "Into the Melting Pot." Mankind v. 5, #9 (Oct.).
1978	"Female Pen: Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh." The Guardian (23 Feb.). "Biorhythmic Blues." New Society (Mar.), p. 478. "Joky Way to Wisdom." New Society (June), p. 610.
1979	"Tales from All Over." New York Times Book Review (21 Oct.), p. 7. "Will the South Rise Again?" New York Times Book Review (16 Dec.), p. 7.
1980	"Introduction," to A Good Man is Hard to Find. Flannery O'Connor. London: The Women's Press.
1982	"Anna (I) Anna: A Novel by Klaus Rifbjerg." Denmarkings: Danish Literature Today. Copenhagen.
1988	"The Writer and Her Critics." The Women's Review of Books (Oct.), p. 11.
1989	"What I Do When I Write..." The Women's Review of Books (July), p. 24.
1991	"Dear Old House: Sarah Orne Jewett." Art and Antiques (Dec.). "Matisse and Picasso: A Friendship in Art, by Francoise Gilot." Pleiades v. 1, #1 (Winter).
1992	"Dixie in the Blood: Sportsman's Paradise by Nancy Lemann." Los Angeles Times Book Review (19 July), p. 11. "A Curator Leaves No Matisse Unturned." New York Times (13 Sept.), p. 49.
1993	"Fame and Misfortune: Feather Crowns by Bobbie Ann Mason." Los Angeles Times Book Review (24 Oct.), p. 2.
1994	"The Gods of Greece: A Review." Los Angeles Times Book Review (8 May), p. 6. "Mating Dances: The Good Husband by Gail Godwin." Boston Globe (28 Aug.), p. 65. "Another Kind of Victorian: Sarah Orne Jewett by Paula Blanchard." New York Times Book Review (20 Nov.), p. 25.
1995	"A Sly and Funny Take on the Tabloid Age: Isabel's Bed by Elinor Lipman." Boston Sunday Globe (5 Mar.), p. 103. "Struggling for Justice in a Savage Century: Choices by Mary Lee Settle." Washington Post Book World (4 June), p. 8. "An American Teacher Liberates Her Chinese Students: Katherine by Anchee Min." San Francisco Chronicle (28 May). "Overlapping Stories in a Violent, Chaotic Time: The Age of Miracles by Ellen Gilchrist." San Francisco Chronicle (30 Apr.), p. 3. "One Hundred Years Ago or More: The God in Flight by Laura Argiri." Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review (Spring). "American Tragedies: Wrongful Death by Sandra Gilbert and Dreaming by Carolyn See." Women's Review of Books (July), p. 18. "A Deep Voice of Authenticity: Water from the Well by Myra McLarey." Washington Post Book World (23 Nov.).
1996	"Growing Up a Southern Writer." Southern Living (Apr.). "Fighting Against Joy." Women's Review of Books (July), p. 35.
1997	"Blaming the Victim." Women's Review of Books (July), p. 33.
1998	"Measures of Pleasure." Women's Review of Books (July), p. 11.
1999	"Lisa Alther Goes Back to East Tennessee." Women's Review of Books (July), p. 6.
2007	"Allegiances." Iron Mountain Review v. 23 (Spring), p. 58.
	*ARTICLES AND REVIEWS ABOUT*
1979	"Alther, Atwood, Ballantyne and Gray: Secular Salvation in the Contemporary Feminist Bildungsroman." Braendlin, Bonnie Hoover. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies (Spring), p. 18.
1985	"Out and About." Zimmerman, Bonnie. Women's Review of Books (Mar.), p. 14.
1988	"Subjugation and Emancipation in the Fiction of Lisa Alther." White, Gwendolyn Hale. Dissertation Abstracts International v. 49, #6 (Dec.).
1989	"Letter to the Editor." Sprague, Claire. Women's Review of Books (Feb.), p. 4.
1990	"Friendship Interruptus." Rich, Barbara. Women's Review of Books (July), p. 25.
1993	"An Interview with Lisa Alther." Barkhausen, Jochen. Zeitschrift fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik v. 41, #2, pp. 147-165. "Interview with Lisa Alther." Edwards, Carol E. W. Turnstile v. 4, #1, pp. 34-50.
1995	"Growing Pains." Levy, Barbara. Women's Review of Books (July), p. 34.
2001	"Lisa Alther Issue." Lang, John (ed. and introd.). Iron Mountain Review v. 17 (Spring), pp. 2-39. "Gathering 'Scattered Allegiances:' The Alther Heroine's Journey 'in Search of Labels.' Buchanan, Harriette C. Iron Mountain Review v. 17 (Spring), pp. 8-15. "Shades of the Sixties: Original Sins as Satiric Celebration."Waage, Frederick. Iron Mountain Review v. 17 (Spring), pp. 16-20. "Fool's Wisdom: The Learning of Laughter." Hokenson, Jan Walsh. Iron Mountain Review v. 17 (Spring), pp. 21-27. "Healing Laughter: A Conversation." Pond, Wayne. Iron Mountain Review v. 17 (Spring), pp. 28-36.
2004	"A Conversation with Lisa Alther." Brosi, George. Appalachian Heritage v. 32, #1 (Winter), pp. 9-12. "Appalachia in Lisa Alther's Novels." Grover, Kathleen H. Appalachian Heritage v. 32, #1 (Winter), pp. 23-26. "Appalachian Echoes in the Novels of Lisa Alther." Brake, Katherine Vande. Appalachian Heritage v. 32, #1 (Winter), pp. 27-30. "Ambivalence towards Home and Heritage for Lisa Alther's Appalachian Characters." Buchanan, Harriette C. Appalachian Heritage v. 32, #1 (Winter), pp. 31-34.