Tell Me a Riddle" renders an unforgettable portrait of a working class couple when the gender determined differences in their experiences of poverty and familial life give rise to bitter conflict after almost four decades of marriage. As she dies from cancer, Eva, the protagonist, recollects a revolutionary past that both critiques and offers hope for the present. Deborah Rosenfelt's introduction and the essays in this volume survey the critical reception of this highly acclaimed story, analyze its biographical and historical contexts, examine the text's language, structure, spiritual and moral significance, and illuminate Olsen's relationship to the American midwest, the American left, and the Jewish enlightenment tradition.
This casebook includes an introduction by the editor, a chronology of Olsen's life, an authoritative text of ""Tell Me a Riddle," relevant essays by Olsen, seven critical essays, and a bibliography.
The contributors are: Joanne Trautmann Banks, Constance Coiner, Rachel Blau Duplessis, Mara Faulkner, Elaine Orr, Linda Ray Pratt, and Deborah Silverton Rosenfelt.
- ISBN10 0860681513
- ISBN13 9780860681519
- Publish Date 25 September 1980 (first published 15 July 1971)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 7 November 2009
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
- Imprint Virago Press Ltd
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback
- Pages 128
- Language English