Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. xiii, 362 pages; 24 cm

Summary

1. The ten brilliant women who are the focus of Sharp came from different backgrounds and had vastly divergent political and artistic opinions. But they all made a significant contribution to the cultural and intellectual history of America and ultimately changed the course of the twentieth century, in spite of the men who often undervalued or dismissed their work. These ten women--Dorothy Parker, Rebecca West, Hannah Arendt, Mary McCarthy, Susan Sontag, Pauline Kael, Joan Didion, Nora Ephron, Renata Adler, and Janet Malcolm--are united by what Dean calls "sharpness," the ability to cut to the quick with precision of thought and wit. Sharp is a vibrant depiction of the intellectual beau monde of twentieth-century New York, where gossip-filled parties at night gave out to literary slugging-matches in the pages of the Partisan Review or the New York Review of Books. It is also a passionate portrayal of how these women asserted themselves through their writing in a climate where women were treated with extreme condescension by the male-dominated cultural establishment. Mixing biography, literary criticism, and cultural history, Sharp is a celebration of this group of extraordinary women, an engaging introduction to their works, and a testament to how anyone who feels powerless can claim the mantle of writer, and, perhaps, change the world. -- Provided by publisher.

Subject

1. Parker, Dorothy, 1893-1967
2. West, Rebecca, 1892-1983
3. Hurston, Zora Neale
4. Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975
5. McCarthy, Mary, 1912-1989
6. Sontag, Susan, 1933-2004
7. Kael, Pauline
8. Didion, Joan
9. Ephron, Nora
10. Hellman, Lillian, 1905-1984
11. Adler, Renata
12. Malcolm, Janet
13. American literature > Women authors > History and criticism
14. Women authors, American > 20th century > Political and social views
15. American literature > 20th century > History and criticism
16. BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY > Literary Figures
17. LITERARY COLLECTIONS > Women Authors
18. SOCIAL SCIENCE > Women's Studies

Genre/Form

1. Biographies.

Contents

1. Preface -- Parker -- West -- West & Hurston -- Arendt -- McCarthy -- Parker & Arendt -- Arendt & McCarthy -- Sontag -- Kael -- Didion -- Ephron -- Arendt & McCarthy & Hellman -- Adler -- Malcolm -- Afterword.

Call number

1. JFE 18-4014

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Author

1. Dean, Michelle, 1979- author.

Title

1. Sharp : the women who made an art of having an opinion / Michelle Dean.

Publisher

1. New York : Grove Press, 2018.

Copyright date

1. ©2018

Edition

1. First edition.
2. First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition.

Type of content

1. text

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. volume

Bibliography

1. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other form:

1. Online version: Dean, Michelle, 1979- Sharp. First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition. New York : Grove Press, 2018 9780802165718 (DLC) 2017059832

LCCN

1. 2017051038

ISBN

1. 9780802125095 (hardcover)
2. 0802125093 (hardcover)

Research call number

1. JFE 18-4014