Janet Ruth Heller presented a memoir chapter and a literary analysis at the conference of the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature on May 28-30, 2024 in East Lansing, Michigan. The title of her memoir chapter is “A Pat on the Back Is Only a Few Inches Away from a Kick in the Pants.” This autobiographical essay is about being raised by hypercritical parents.
Janet also did an analysis of “An Awakening,” one of the stories in Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio (1919). Her paper was titled “Multiple Awakenings in Sherwood Anderson’s Story ‘An Awakening.’” This story has three main characters: the young reporter George Willard; the woman he cares about, Belle Carpenter; and the older man whom Belle loves, the bartender Ed Handby. The story’s title emphasizes the theme of reaching a new awareness about one’s life. As the plot progresses, all three characters wake up to realize their desires, their true power, and their place in Winesburg’s society.
#memoir #literarycriticism #SherwoodAnderson #WinesburgOhio #power #parentalcriticism
