SOURCE: Fleissner, Robert. Review of “… And Ladies of the Club,” by Helen Hooven Santmyer. CLA Journal 29 (June 1986): 486-89.

In the following review, Fleissner defends “… And Ladies of the Club” against charges of racism.

Because Central State University hosted a most successful conference on Helen Hooven Santmyer's best-selling novel, “… And Ladies of the Club,” in January, 1985, it is particularly important to come to terms with the issue of race. A number of prominent reviewers (for example, in Newsweek and in the New York Times) have pinpointed racism as a defect in this work. But is it? Owing to the fact that our campus is only four miles from where she resides, I have had the opportunity to interview her and her friends, who have staunchly defended her on this point. At one point, I seriously considered jettisoning the conference because of its apparently controversial nature, but close study of...