Grace Paley and the subject of family in her work and life

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject American Studies - Literature grade: 125 University of Frankfurt (Main) (Institut für England und Amerikastudien) course: Grace Paley language: English abstract: Grace Paley is a well-renowned author of prose and poetry a political activist and a passionate mother and grandmother. She never detached her working as an author from her family life and her own family relationships but made it a central subject of her work. Her life and work resist separation; it would only result in artificial and false distinctions. Besides political concerns and feminist issues the family and generational relationships are the main focus in both Grace Paley's life and work. I will analyze this in three steps: first I will examine her biography and its influence on her work. In a second step I argue that the subject of family is a central and repeating issue in Grace Paley's work exemplifying this on a selection of short stories and poems. In the third and final section I will show how family matters are interwoven with feminist issues.