Grace Paley

Grace Paley (December 11, 1922 - ) is an American short story writer, poet, and political activist whose work has won a number of awards.

The Little Disturbances of Man

Having spent several years as a typist and housewife, Paley turned her attention back to writing in the mid 1950s. After a number of rejections, Paley published her first collection, The Little Disturbances of Man (1959) with Doubleday. The collection features eleven stories of New York life, several of which have since been widely anthologized, particularly "Goodbye and Good Luck" and "The Used-Boy Raisers". The collection also introduces the semi-autobiographical character Faith Darwin (in "The Used-Boy Raisers" and "A Subject of Childhood"), who later appears in six stories of Enormous Changes at the Last Minute and ten of Later the Same Day.

Related Topics:
Housewife - 1950s - 1959 - Doubleday

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Though as a story collection by an unknown author, the book was not widely reviewed, those that did review it (including Philip Roth and the New Yorker book page) tended to rate the stories highly. Despite this initial lack of publicity, The Little Disturbances of Man went on to build a sufficient following to be reissued by Viking Press in 1968, at the time almost unprecedented for a short story collection. The book's success allowed Paley to start a teaching career which would eventually include Columbia University, Syracuse, City College of New York, and Sarah Lawrence College; she also won a 1961 Guggenheim Fellowship for Fiction.

Related Topics:
Philip Roth - New Yorker - Viking Press - 1968 - Columbia University - Syracuse - City College of New York - Sarah Lawrence College - 1961 - Guggenheim

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