| Author: | Zona Gale | ISBN: | 1230001215519 |
| Publisher: | Steve Gabany | Publication: | July 4, 2016 |
| Imprint: | Language: | English |
| Author: | Zona Gale |
| ISBN: | 1230001215519 |
| Publisher: | Steve Gabany |
| Publication: | July 4, 2016 |
| Imprint: | |
| Language: | English |
In its basic plot structure, Miss Lulu Bett is a Cinderella story: The good-hearted young woman has been virtually enslaved by her domineering, self-serving brother-in-law and sister, with the passive assistance of the other family members. Her trap is sprung by a Prince Charming of sorts, but a truly happy ending depends upon her learning to make her own choices, whether or not they will involve a man. The dramatic arc of Lulu's gradual progress toward discovering her own self-worth — not defined in terms of what she contributes to the domestic comfort of others, but as an individual — has led some critics to compare the character to Nora in Henrik Ibsen's Et dukkehjem (pr., pb. 1879; A Doll's House, 1880; also known as A Doll House).
In 1920 Miss Lulu Bett was hailed as innovative in several respects and was the first Pulitzer Prize-winning play by a woman. In his foreword to the published play, Robert C. Benchley commented: "Zona Gale is the first author, to my knowledge, who has dared to write genuinely dull dialogue . . . [b]ut Miss Gale saw the truth and kept it whole. She was depicting uninspired American family life (almost for the first time in our literature) and she held fast to the ideals of American family conversation."
Benchley also signaled the originality of the "old lady who is not sweet, and a child who is not cute." Ludwig Lewisohn declared that "no other American dramatist has succeeded in so fully and richly transferring to the stage the exact moral atmosphere of a class, a section, and a period, as Miss Gale."
This edition of the book contains 10 place-, time-, and subject-relevant iconic illustrations that are unique to this edition of the book.
Zona Gale (August 26, 1874 – December 27, 1938) was an American author and playwright. Gale was born in Portage, Wisconsin, which she often used as a setting in her writing. She attended Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and later entered the University of Wisconsin–Madison, from which she received a Bachelor of Literature degree in 1895, and four years later a master's degree.
After college, Gale wrote for newspapers in Milwaukee and New York City, for six years. A visit to Portage in 1903 proved a turning point in her literary life, as seeing the sights and sounds of town life led her to comment that her 'old world was full of new possibilities.' Gale had found the material she needed for her writing, and returned to Portage in 1904 to concentrate full time on fiction. She wrote and published there until her 1938 death, but made trips to New York
In 1928 at the age of fifty-four she married William L. Breese, also of Portage.
Gale died of pneumonia in a Chicago hospital in 1938.
In its basic plot structure, Miss Lulu Bett is a Cinderella story: The good-hearted young woman has been virtually enslaved by her domineering, self-serving brother-in-law and sister, with the passive assistance of the other family members. Her trap is sprung by a Prince Charming of sorts, but a truly happy ending depends upon her learning to make her own choices, whether or not they will involve a man. The dramatic arc of Lulu's gradual progress toward discovering her own self-worth — not defined in terms of what she contributes to the domestic comfort of others, but as an individual — has led some critics to compare the character to Nora in Henrik Ibsen's Et dukkehjem (pr., pb. 1879; A Doll's House, 1880; also known as A Doll House).
In 1920 Miss Lulu Bett was hailed as innovative in several respects and was the first Pulitzer Prize-winning play by a woman. In his foreword to the published play, Robert C. Benchley commented: "Zona Gale is the first author, to my knowledge, who has dared to write genuinely dull dialogue . . . [b]ut Miss Gale saw the truth and kept it whole. She was depicting uninspired American family life (almost for the first time in our literature) and she held fast to the ideals of American family conversation."
Benchley also signaled the originality of the "old lady who is not sweet, and a child who is not cute." Ludwig Lewisohn declared that "no other American dramatist has succeeded in so fully and richly transferring to the stage the exact moral atmosphere of a class, a section, and a period, as Miss Gale."
This edition of the book contains 10 place-, time-, and subject-relevant iconic illustrations that are unique to this edition of the book.
Zona Gale (August 26, 1874 – December 27, 1938) was an American author and playwright. Gale was born in Portage, Wisconsin, which she often used as a setting in her writing. She attended Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and later entered the University of Wisconsin–Madison, from which she received a Bachelor of Literature degree in 1895, and four years later a master's degree.
After college, Gale wrote for newspapers in Milwaukee and New York City, for six years. A visit to Portage in 1903 proved a turning point in her literary life, as seeing the sights and sounds of town life led her to comment that her 'old world was full of new possibilities.' Gale had found the material she needed for her writing, and returned to Portage in 1904 to concentrate full time on fiction. She wrote and published there until her 1938 death, but made trips to New York
In 1928 at the age of fifty-four she married William L. Breese, also of Portage.
Gale died of pneumonia in a Chicago hospital in 1938.
