Mary J. Demarr – författare

Although best known for The Thorn Birds, her blockbuster family saga set in her native Australia, Colleen McCullough is a versatile novelist who has written in a variety of genres. This is the first full-length examination of her work. It highlights her versatility and her refusal to be confined to any one genre or type of writing, even though that refusal has lost her part of the wide readership she gained with ^IThe Thorn Birds^R. DeMarr discusses, analyzes, and evaluates each of McCullough's eight novels in turn, relates it to the genre to which it belongs, and compares it to her other work. This study also features a biographical chapter and a chapter which discusses the variety of genres in which McCullough has written.DeMarr shows how McCullough's romances (Tim and The Ladies of Missalonghi) and her other novels which make heavy use of romance elements (The Thorn Birds and An Indecent Obession) differ dramatically from each other. She also compares McCullough's novels of ideas (A Creed for the Third Millennium^ and the three recent historical novels set in ancient Rome, The Masters of Rome series). Each novel or series is discussed in a separate chapter, which contains sections on plot development and structure, character development, setting, style, and themes. Each novel is also examined from an alternate critical approach, such as feminist, allegorical, anti-generic, and deconstructionist criticism, to widen the reader's perspective. A complete bibliography of McCullough's work, general criticism, and listings of reviews of each novel complete the work. This work will be of particular interest to public and school libraries.

Barbara Kingsolver wears the feminist mantle with joyful pride, and her spirited embrace of political themes is contagious. Responding to richly-drawn heroines along their journeys to do right by family and community, readers embrace Kingsolver's political novels, making them bestsellers. From the haunting Arizona landscape of Kingsolver's early trilogy of novels, to the lush African jungle that sets the scene in her latest, The Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver weaves colorful tapestries with vivid prose, exceptional intelligence, and unexpected humor. DeMarr's comprehensive treatment covers not only Kingsolver's four novels, each with its own chapter, but also discusses with considerable insight her background as a feminist, as a journalist, and, most importantly, as a humanist.Introducing readers to Kingsolver, DeMarr devotes a chapter to her life and work, showing how the two are deeply intertwined. While Kingsolver's writing is never strictly autobiographical, the well-researched section on politics and genre discusses how experiences in Kingsolver's own life and in her work as a political journalist have influenced her fiction writing. In addition to the celebrated novels that readers have come to love: The Bean Trees, Pigs in Heaven, Animal Dreams, and The Poisonwood Bible, as well as the poems and short stories, DeMarr covers the nonfiction: the essays and political writings. A full chapter analyzes each novel in terms of plot and character development, thematic content, symbolism, and the importance of place and language. Students and fans of Kingsolver will find this work, including its well-organized bibliography, accessible and interesting.