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Women at Work
Women at Work Volume Two: Interviews from The Paris Review
Introduced by editor Emily Nemens and illustrated by Joana Avillez, the twelve interviews in Women at Work Volume II add to the stunning lineup in Women at Work Volume I; from Marianne Moore (1961) to Maxine Groffsky (2017)—by way of Katherine Anne Porter, Marguerite Young, May Sarton, Doris Lessing, Maya Angelou, Alice Munro, Jeanette Winterson, Wendy Wasserstein, Luisa Valenzuela, and Louise Erdrich. Intimate, deep, full of surprises, this second volume of classic interviews will inspire writers, students, and anyone else who cares about the creative process.
429 pages, Paperback
Published November 6, 2018
6 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
The Paris Review
119 books310 followersFounded in Paris by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton in 1953, The Paris Review began with a simple editorial mission: “Dear reader,” William Styron wrote in a letter in the inaugural issue, “The Paris Review hopes to emphasize creative work—fiction and poetry—not to the exclusion of criticism, but with the aim in mind of merely removing criticism from the dominating place it holds in most literary magazines and putting it pretty much where it belongs, i.e., somewhere near the back of the book. I think The Paris Review should welcome these people into its pages: the good writers and good poets, the non-drumbeaters and non-axe-grinders. So long as they're good.”
Decade after decade, the Review has introduced the important writers of the day. Adrienne Rich was first published in its pages, as were Philip Roth, V. S. Naipaul, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Mona Simpson, Edward P. Jones, and Rick Moody. Selections from Samuel Beckett's novel Molloy appeared in the fifth issue, one of his first publications in English. The magazine was also among the first to recognize the work of Jack Kerouac, with the publication of his short story, “The Mexican Girl,” in 1955. Other milestones of contemporary literature, now widely anthologized, also first made their appearance in The Paris Review: Italo Calvino's Last Comes the Raven, Philip Roth's Goodbye Columbus, Donald Barthelme's Alice, Jim Carroll's Basketball Diaries, Peter Matthiessen's Far Tortuga, Jeffrey Eugenides’s Virgin Suicides, and Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections.
In addition to the focus on original creative work, the founding editors found another alternative to criticism—letting the authors talk about their work themselves. The Review’s Writers at Work interview series offers authors a rare opportunity to discuss their life and art at length; they have responded with some of the most revealing self-portraits in literature. Among the interviewees are William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov, Joan Didion, Seamus Heaney, Ian McEwan, and Lorrie Moore. In the words of one critic, it is “one of the single most persistent acts of cultural conservation in the history of the world.”
Decade after decade, the Review has introduced the important writers of the day. Adrienne Rich was first published in its pages, as were Philip Roth, V. S. Naipaul, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Mona Simpson, Edward P. Jones, and Rick Moody. Selections from Samuel Beckett's novel Molloy appeared in the fifth issue, one of his first publications in English. The magazine was also among the first to recognize the work of Jack Kerouac, with the publication of his short story, “The Mexican Girl,” in 1955. Other milestones of contemporary literature, now widely anthologized, also first made their appearance in The Paris Review: Italo Calvino's Last Comes the Raven, Philip Roth's Goodbye Columbus, Donald Barthelme's Alice, Jim Carroll's Basketball Diaries, Peter Matthiessen's Far Tortuga, Jeffrey Eugenides’s Virgin Suicides, and Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections.
In addition to the focus on original creative work, the founding editors found another alternative to criticism—letting the authors talk about their work themselves. The Review’s Writers at Work interview series offers authors a rare opportunity to discuss their life and art at length; they have responded with some of the most revealing self-portraits in literature. Among the interviewees are William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov, Joan Didion, Seamus Heaney, Ian McEwan, and Lorrie Moore. In the words of one critic, it is “one of the single most persistent acts of cultural conservation in the history of the world.”
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 12, 2022
THIS IS A GEM! these conversations give you a rare opportunity to get to know these extraordinary women a tiny bit better: how they live and work, how they perceive themselves and what they've created, what issues they face and how they deal with them, and so on. i didn't know most of them, but i've greatly enjoyed every single interview.
June 23, 2019
EACH INTERVIEW IS FILLED WITH GEMS GEMS GEMS
February 7, 2022
Conversations from the interviews for a dozen female writers.
They share their background, childhood, what made them write, what opinions they have towards a certain literary style or an author, their writing rituals/routines.
You might find this book very entertaining if you love any of the authors' work, as it does give a lot of info on the writers themselves. Unfortunately, it's not the case with me as I do not read fiction. I also find the interviews are a bit on the depressing side as many negative memories of the authors were shared.
They share their background, childhood, what made them write, what opinions they have towards a certain literary style or an author, their writing rituals/routines.
You might find this book very entertaining if you love any of the authors' work, as it does give a lot of info on the writers themselves. Unfortunately, it's not the case with me as I do not read fiction. I also find the interviews are a bit on the depressing side as many negative memories of the authors were shared.
April 20, 2019
Katherine Anne Porter, Doris Lessing, Maya Angelou, Jeanette Winterson, and Louise Erdrich--fantastic documentations of writers-at-work!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews