Anything That Burns You
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- Synopsis
- This is the first full-length biography of this fascinating woman of arts and letters who was a major force both within the literary salons of New York City in the early 20th Century, but also on the streets as a protester of inequality and injustice which was rampant at the time. Author Terese Svoboda, award-winning poet, non-fiction writer, novelist, and videographer, provides a rich and detailed account of the life and world of Lola Ridge, poet, artist, editor, and activist for the cause of women’s rights, workers rights, racial equality and social reform. From her childhood as a newly arrived Irish immigrant in the grim mining towns of New Zealand with her mother who had fled with her infant daughter to Down Under in order to escape one bad marriage only to find herself in another; to her years as a budding poet and artist in Sydney, Australia, which, even in its early days was a socially progressive and influential artistic hub; to her migration to America and the cities of San Francisco, Chicago, and New York, where she joined forces with the literary and artistic world in the years leading up to WWI, and helped start and edit two major journals of the time, Others and Broom, as well as go on to publish several books of poetry. At one time considered one of the most popular poets of her day (in an era when poetry was a top-selling genre and even available for sale at newsstands), she later fell out of critical favor due to her realistic and impassioned verse that looked head on at the major social woes of society--poverty, racism, labor inequality, unequal wealth distribution, and the appalling conditions in which the immigrant population was forced to live in the tenements of New York and elsewhere--subjects deemed ill-suited for a femaie poet. Moreover,her work and appearances alongside the likes of Margaret Sanger, Emma Goldman, Will Durant and other socialists and radicals, and her public outcry in the wake of the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire and the executions of Sacco & Vanzetti put her in the line of fire not only of the police and government, but also the literary pundits who criticized her activism as being excessive and melodramatic. With this lively portrait of the artistic and socially active world (100 years before “occupy Wall Street) Svoboda gives us a veritable who’s who of all the key players in the arts, literature and radical politics of the time, in which Lola Ridge stood front and center, a traialblazer for women, poetry and human rights far ahead of her time. But as Svoboda argues, she was sadly marginalized in later years along with many pioneering and primarily female poets of her day such as Marianne Moore, H.D., and Amy Lowell, who have only recently been recognized for their major contribution to our literature. With spirited prose, impeccable research, insight and wit, Svoboda has restored this vastly undervalued and overlooked author to her rightful place in this country’s literary and social history.
- Copyright:
- 2002
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Publisher Quality
- ISBN-13:
- 9781936182985
- Publisher:
- Schaffner Press, Inc.
- Date of Addition:
- 02/15/18
- Copyrighted By:
- Schaffner Press, Inc.
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- Literature and Fiction, Language Arts
- Submitted By:
- Bookshare Staff
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.