Grace Paley

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American short story writer, poet, and essayist.
Born: December 11, 1922

factoid #1
Raised in a socialist family in the Bronx, Paley has always had a hand in politics. During the 60's and 70's she was a prominent anti-Vietnam activist, and has remained a vocal feminist and member of the antinuclear movement.

factoid #2
Studied poetry with W.H. Auden.

known for
Sharp, funny, precise short stories—many about your average New Yorker. Paley's stories are spare and tough, and funny as hell. Her voice is very distinctly her own and any comparisons made to other author's fall short. Her work successfully circles around the oh-so-minor question of how we should live our lives. Her sly wit is like a gentle slap on the back followed up quickly by a raspy whisper delivered directly in your ear, reminding you to love life.

people (besides me) who adore her
Susan Sontag ("As I admire everything Grace Paley has written, I expect to admire everything she will write. She is that rare kind of writer, a natural with a voice like no one else's: funny, sad, lean, modest, energetic, acute. Like the great modern Russian writers, she demonstrates a possible unity of the art of consciousness and the naturalness of conscience.")

Philip Roth ("An understanding of loneliness, lust, selfishness, and fatigue that is splendidly comic and unladylike. Grace Paley has deep feelings, a wild imagination, and a style whose toughness and bumpiness arise not out of exasperation with the language, but the daring and heart of a genuine writer of prose.")

Harvey Swados ("Her language is so wild and fanciful that from time to time it takes off into a realm that borders on the surreal; her vision is of sexy little girls, loving and bickering couples, envenomed suburbanites, yowling job-hunters in an America that is nutty but so recognizable that it hurts.")

Vivian Gornick ("All over the world, in languages you never heard of, she is read as a master storyteller in the great tradition: People love life more because of her writing.")