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Titus authors book on Katherine Anne Porter

By David Gonnerman '90
November 7, 2005

St. Olaf Associate Professor of English Mary Titus has authored the new book The Ambivalent Art of Katherine Anne Porter (University of Georgia Press, 2005). The book (which has been selected as a finalist in the 18th Annual Minnesota Book Awards) chronicles the life of Porter (1890-1980), an acclaimed American writer who confronted issues of gender in her work and life. Titus draws upon unpublished Porter papers as well as newly available editions of her early fiction, poetry and reviews to trace Porter's complex response to cultural changes in gender roles of American women.

Throughout Porter's long career, writes Titus, she "repeatedly probed cultural arguments about female creativity, a woman's maternal legacy, romantic love and sexual identity, always with startling acuity, often with painful ambivalence." Porter's writing serves as a medium for what Titus terms Porter's "gender-thinking" -- a sustained examination of the interrelated issues of art, gender and identity.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.