Biography EssayBobbie Ann Mason grew "so sick of reading about the alienated hero of superior sensibility" who so frequently dominates twentieth-century American literature that she decided to write f...
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The people and terrain of rural western Kentucky figure prominently in the fiction of Bobbie Ann Mason, a highly regarded novelist and short story writer. Herself a native Kentuckian, Mason has chroni...
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"'Born to Run' ... that's my whole history, and my whole psychology, and all my subject matter. I grew up 150-200 miles from any city. You simply didn't have much connection with the outside world. So...
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Bobbie Ann Mason grew "so sick of reading about the alienated hero of superior sensibility" who so frequently dominates twentieth-century American literature that she decided to write fiction about th...
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In the following essay, Wilhelm discusses the effects of social change on the lives of everyday people, a primary theme in Mason's stories.
As her double given name might suggest, Bobbie Ann...
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In the following review, Benedict identifies the strengths and weaknesses of Feather Crowns.
In Feather Crowns, Bobbie Ann Mason once again proves her mastery over the world of specific physical de...
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In the following review, Alther discusses the pacing of Mason's lengthy novel Feather Crowns and its colorful language.
As Feather Crowns opens, it is 1900. A Kentucky farm wife is giving bi...
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In the following essay, Levy discusses the short story “Shiloh” and how it fits into the overall history of the short story genre.
In 1980, Bobbie Ann Mason's first major short...
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In the following review, Clark examines Mason's skillful use of details in Feather Crowns.
Most of Feather Crowns takes place in 1900, at a time when rural preachers are predicting apocalyps...
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In the following review, Folks offers a positive assessment of the writing and characterizations in Feather Crowns.
In Feather Crowns Bobbie Ann Mason traces the life of Christianna Wilburn Wheeler...
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In the following essay, Blythe and Sweet discuss the universal Grail myth and how it relates to the short story “Shiloh.”
Bobbie Ann Mason is often viewed as a minimalist, a contempor...
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In the following interview, Wilhelm talks with Mason about her background and its influences on her writing.
[Wilhelm:] How have your early experiences influenced your writing?
[Mason:] When I w...
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In the following essay, Pollack examines Mason's role as a southern literary figure, and asserts that Feather Crowns cemented Mason's place as a noted women's historian.
What w...
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In the following interview, originally conducted in October 1988, Kling discusses academic approaches to Mason's writing and prompts the author to comment on her favorite stories.
She isn&#x...
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In the following essay, Wilhelm examines Mason's portrayal of the effects of social change on her characters. Wilhelm refutes criticism that judges Mason's work as repetitive, demonstrat...
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In the following review, McKee favorably compares Mason's Clear Springs to the genre of the traditional Southern autobiography.
At the end of a century in which telling your own story—...
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In the following essay, Fine argues that Mason's depiction of the South in her short fiction lacks the traditional values found in the stories of other southern writers such as Flannery O...
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In the following essay, Price examines Mason's use of central themes and metaphoric images to illustrate how the characters in Shiloh, and Other Stories adapt to changes in their daily lives an...
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In the following mixed review of Spence + Lila, Krist applauds Mason's writing, but wishes the novel was more satisfying.
[Bobbie Ann Mason's] new short novel Spence + Lila is exactly...
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In the following review, Jersild discusses the characterizations in Spence + Lila and Love Life. Jersild asserts that protagonists in Mason's fiction rely on the physical details of their lives...
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In the following essay, Underwood compares the husbands and boyfriends in Mason's short story, “Drawing Names” to the biblical three Wise Men.
In her short story “Drawin...
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Bobbie Ann Mason
Bobbie Ann Mason
Bobbie Ann Mason
Critical Essay by Albert E. Wilhelm
