03017cam a2200349 i 4500 889029006 TxAuBib 20230726120000.0 221121s2023||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2022041766 9781597146050 HRD 28.00 1597146056 HRD 28.00 TxAuBib rda Smiley, Jane, 1949-, author. The questions that matter most [BOOK] : reading, writing, and the exercise of freedom / Jane Smiley. Berkeley, California : Heyday, [2023] 243 pages ; 23 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier My absent father -- Iceland made me -- Can mothers think? -- The most important question -- Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, gives Desdemona some advice -- The one and only -- I am your "Prudent Amy" -- Why go on? -- Say it ain't so, Huck -- Thoughts on My aAntonia -- Gregor: my life as a bug -- Meet Jessica Mitford -- The other Nancy Mitford -- Laughing to the end -- Farewell, Alice Munro, and thanks for everything -- History vs. historical fiction -- Reflections on St. Louis -- Writing is an exercise in freedom. Long acclaimed as one of America’s preeminent novelists, Jane Smiley is also an unparalleled observer of the craft of writing. In The Questions That Matter Most this Pulitzer Prize-winning writer offers steady and penetrating essays on some of the aesthetic and cultural issues that mark any serious engagement with reading and writing. Beginning with a personal introduction tracing Smiley’s migration from Iowa to California, the author reflects on her findings in the varied literature of the Golden State, whose writers have for decades litigated the West’s contested legacies of racism, class conflict, and sexual politics through their pens. As she considers the ambiguity of character and the weight of history, her essays provide new entry points into literature, and we lucky readers can see how Smiley draws inspiration from across the literary spectrum to invigorate her own writing. With enthusiasm and meticulous attention, Smiley dives beneath surface-level interpretations to examine the works of Marguerite de Navarre, Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, Willa Cather, Franz Kafka, Halldór Laxness, and Jessica Mitford. Throughout, Smiley seeks to think harder and, in her words, with “more clarity and nuance” about the questions that matter most. Provided by publisher. 20230726. Smiley, Jane. Smiley, Jane. Books and reading. Novelists, American 20th century Biography. Novelists, American 21st century Biography. Authorship. Autobiographies. Literary criticism. Essays.