A Green and Mortal Sound: Short Fiction by Irish Women Writers

by Louise DeSalvo (editor), Kathleen Walsh D'Arcy (Editor), Katherine Hogan (Editor)

From a land fraught with political and religious conflict comes this testimony to the survival of the spirit. Engaged politically, but also concerned with issues that confront women throughout the world, the writers in this collection embody in their work the interconnection of the personal and the political, the individual and the social. Their voices, emanating from diverse backgrounds, demonstrate the range and depth of contemporary fiction by Irish women.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

270 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2001

About the author

Louise A. DeSalvo (born 1942) is an American writer, editor, professor, and lecturer who currently lives in New Jersey. Much of her work focuses on Italian-American culture, though she is also a renowned Virginia Woolf scholar.

DeSalvo and her husband raised their children in Teaneck, New Jersey before moving to Montclair to be closer to their grandchildren.

She also teaches memoir writing as a part of CUNY Hunter College's MFA Program in Creative Writing.

DeSalvo's publications include the memoir, Vertigo, which received the Gay Talese award and was also a finalist for Italy's Primo Acerbi prize for literature; Crazy in the Kitchen: Food, Feuds, and Forgiveness in an Italian American Family, which was named a Booksense Book of the Year for 2004.

DeSalvo is also a renowned Virginia Woolf scholar. She has edited editions of Woolf's first novel Melymbrosia, as well as The Letters of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf, which documents the controversial lesbian affair between these two novelists. In addition, she has written two books on Woolf, Virginia Woolf: The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Her Life and Work and Virginia Woolf's First Voyage: A Novel in the Making.

One of DeSalvo's most popular books is the writer's guide Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Try not to read this all at once, or you'll wind up crying into a drink, like I did.

[Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many fantastic pieces herein. You may recognize some favorite names in here. And if not, you’ll look up a few new ones to see what else they’ve written. One of those you could pass along to anyone, or leave as a treasure to find in a sharing library.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the time of writing this paragraph, I'm about halfway through the book. So far, it's enjoyable. It's a moody bunch of anecdotes, stories of being more than of action. Action is peripheral to the viewpoint character's conscious or unconscious brooding on the nature and significance of her life and its concomitants. I wouldn't want to read only this sort of thing all the time, but it is refreshing to spend a few minutes a day in the mind of a woman facing up to the challenges and constraints of her existence.

I love the title.

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been sitting in my bookcase since I took an Irish Literature course in 2002. Not sure why it sat unread for so long, but it won't sit as long before a reread is due. There is so much that happens between the lines that I'm sure I missed a lot.