"Tell Me a Riddle": Tillie Olsen

by Deborah Silverton Rosenfelt (Editor)

“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.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

200 pages, Hardcover

First published May 31, 1961

Reviews

[justjenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories, my favorite is "I Stand Here Ironing".

[Cynthia Egbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the essays and background material was not that exciting to me, the story itself was really great writing. I was interested to learn that, even when quoted in another author's short story, Chekhov never ceases to fill me with that certain feeling. "Pain I answer with tears and cries, baseness with indignation, meanness with repulsion...for life may be hated or wearied of, but never despised." While the story itself was powerful, I really appreciated Olsen's use of and reference to other great storytellers in the context of the story of two elderly folks who have spent a lifetime together, for better or for worse...

[David Arnold · Rating 2 out of 5]

Limited material

Follow Olsen had limited output. Tell Me a Riddle was published as a book containing several short stories. This book only contains the title story. The remainder is made up of papers by others explaining her work. I would have given this a higher rating if it had more of her writing. She was a terrific author who spoke to feminism and social justice long before it was popular to do so.

[Rebecca Stilson]

Struggled through the story. Couldn’t go farther than that. Above my pay grade

[behsforensics]

Team owns I Stand Here, Ironing by Olsen, Tillie digitally.

[Tanja · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected to read short stories by Tillie Olsen and other women writers and instead found ONE short story by Olsen (granted, it was a really good one with the same title as this book), background stories to said short story and critical essays about Tillie Olsen and her work. Therefore, only 2 stars from me.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely devastating short story.

[Lisa Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most ragingly passionate writers I have ever read.