A01=Katherine Arnoldi
antihero and outsider protagonists
Author_Katherine Arnoldi
Category=FBA
Category=FYB
characters resisting assimilation
coming-of-age in challenging environments
contemporary short story collection
coping with illness and mortality
creative reflection on identity
cross-cultural and subcultural experiences
det
domestic and community tensions
East Village artistic life
eq_anthologies-novellas-short-stories
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_modern-contemporary
eq_nobargain
existential and philosophical themes
experimental narrative forms
exploration of faith and personal belief
exploration of personal agency
fictional portrayals of struggle and renewal
human connection in isolation
interior versus external struggles
intimate glimpses of human resilience
intimate portraits of family life
introspective and reflective storytelling
life at the margins of society
life in abandoned and transitional spaces
literary fiction about outsiders
marginalized perspectives in America
Mennonite-inspired characters
modern American short stories
moral and ethical dilemmas in fiction
narratives on belonging and alienation
observations of ordinary lives
poetic and meditative prose style
quiet acts of defiance
small acts of meaning in daily life
small-scale heroism in everyday life
spiritual and existential inquiry
spiritual self-discovery in fiction
stories of survival and resilience
subtle psychological exploration
themes of loss and hope
transformative journeys of characters
unconventional storytelling techniques
urban and rural life contrasts
urban grit and personal growth
women navigating societal constraints
working-class and rust-belt narratives
Product details
- ISBN 9781558496033
- Weight: 333g
- Dimensions: 137 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 25 Jul 2007
- Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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The enigmatic stories in this haunting collection deal with individuals striving to live outside the dominant American culture - people who do not want to be incorporated, appropriated, or consumed. Their battles are waged on interior and external landscapes, pitting clarity against confusion, faith against fear, the marginalized against the powerful, the passive against the aggressive. In one story, a Mennonite mother leaves her alcoholic husband and moves with her three children into an abandoned house and back to a life of faith, though a new faith, one of her own making. In another story, a teenager living in the darkness of a failing rust-belt city holds before her the only light she sees, her child, to guide the way as she moves across the border and beyond. A young artist in New York City pursues a simple life, a passive life, the yielding life of a Mennonite, even as she immerses herself in the gritty urban culture of the East Village. Another woman, given a short time to live, sets up ant farms on her stoop in Alphabet City and is determined to discover how worlds are made by watching the ants and only the ants. A Vietnam veteran finds meaning as a dishwasher at the Catholic Worker, where he circles on his stump of a leg, aware that the thing that is missing, that cannot be seen, is most present. Many of these stories experiment with the form of writing itself. They reflect the vision of an artist who remains separate - in the world, but not of the world - and whose goal is not to dazzle or entertain, but simply, humbly to be present for each word.
Katherine Arnoldi teaches writing and lives in New York City. Her graphic novel, The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Single Mom (1998), received a New York Foundation of the Arts Award in Drawing and two awards from the American Library Association. She has also been awarded the New York Foundation of the Arts Award in Fiction, the DeJur Award, the Newhouse Award, and the Henfield TransAtlantic Fiction Award.
