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misajane79
A quiet, wonderful biography of a writer that most people have never heard of. Winifred Sanford was a wife, mother and writer. In the 1920s and 1930s, she was hailed as one of the best Texas writers. In recent years, her star has risen again and her work is put side by side to Katharine Anne Porter's work. H. L. Mencken, who made so many careers, did everything he could to encourage her. But life got in the way, the writing slowed down, and eventually, editors lost interest. This is a book about balancing--and how sometimes you just can't. Some very interesting food for thought, especially reading it now, as everyone is talking about feminism and Sheryl Stanford and Marisa Meyer
I confess I've never heard of Sanford prior to this book. But the review in the Dallas Morning News caught my interest. Women! Writers! My hometown! Wiesepape does a great job of giving you just enough information about her stories to feel connected, and yet leaving enough to your imagination so that you want to seek out the text.
There are some beautiful passages in this, and Winifred's personality really comes through. I would have loved to have known her.
Two passages worth sharing:
Winifred, in a letter to Mencken:
"I couldn't make out whether my offering had been the laughing stock of the editorial staff or whether you were frantically anxious to see another. You didn't say you liked it; neither did you order me back to the dishpan and the kitchen mop. If you decide, after reading 'Sick for Home' that I belong in the kitchen, please be good enough to tell me so."
And from Wiesepape's conclusion, which made me catch my breath:
"Perhaps the inferiority of Texas literature, which many critics and writers have noted, is not so much due to a lack in the quality of the literature produced by Texas writers as it is to a flaw in historical record keeping. The possibility exists that at least some fault lies with scholars who have overlooked the work of writers like Winifred Sanford, women whose literary output has been limited by personal and cultural circumstances to a single novel, a slim volume of poems, or a few excellent short stories."
What else has been lost, waiting for historians/scholars like Wiesepape to find them?
I confess I've never heard of Sanford prior to this book. But the review in the Dallas Morning News caught my interest. Women! Writers! My hometown! Wiesepape does a great job of giving you just enough information about her stories to feel connected, and yet leaving enough to your imagination so that you want to seek out the text.
There are some beautiful passages in this, and Winifred's personality really comes through. I would have loved to have known her.
Two passages worth sharing:
Winifred, in a letter to Mencken:
"I couldn't make out whether my offering had been the laughing stock of the editorial staff or whether you were frantically anxious to see another. You didn't say you liked it; neither did you order me back to the dishpan and the kitchen mop. If you decide, after reading 'Sick for Home' that I belong in the kitchen, please be good enough to tell me so."
And from Wiesepape's conclusion, which made me catch my breath:
"Perhaps the inferiority of Texas literature, which many critics and writers have noted, is not so much due to a lack in the quality of the literature produced by Texas writers as it is to a flaw in historical record keeping. The possibility exists that at least some fault lies with scholars who have overlooked the work of writers like Winifred Sanford, women whose literary output has been limited by personal and cultural circumstances to a single novel, a slim volume of poems, or a few excellent short stories."
What else has been lost, waiting for historians/scholars like Wiesepape to find them?
Honestly, I probably wouldn't have finished this if it wasn't a book club book. Not my cup of tea.
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