Mary Gordon
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and is the McIntosh Professor of English at Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
. She is best known for her novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s, memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
s and literary criticism
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
. They constitute an important contribution to Irish-American literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
.
Biography
Mary Gordon was born in Far Rockaway, New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, to Anna Gagliano Gordon, an Italian-Irish Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
mother, and David Gordon, a Jewish father who converted to Catholicism. While growing up, she attended Holy Name of Mary School in Valley Stream
Valley Stream, New York
Valley Stream is a village in Nassau County, New York in the United States. The population in the village of Valley Stream was 37,511 at the 2010 census...
and for high school attended The Mary Louis Academy
The Mary Louis Academy
The Mary Louis Academy, also known as TMLA, is a private Catholic college preparatory academy, restricting admission solely to young women. The Mary Louis Academy is located in the affluent community of Jamaica Estates, Queens, New York City...
in Jamaica, N.Y.. She is Catholic.
She received her A.B. from Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
in 1971, and her M.A. from Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
in 1973. Gordon lived in New Paltz, New York
New Paltz, New York
New Paltz is a town in Ulster County, New York, USA. The population was 14,003 at the 2010 census. The town is located in the southeastern part of the county and is south of Kingston, New York. New Paltz contains a village also with the name New Paltz...
for a time during the 1980s. She and her husband, Arthur Cash, live in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Hope Valley, Rhode Island. They have two adult children, Anna and David. Gordon is the McIntosh Professor of English at Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
. Cash is retired.
In 1981, she wrote the foreword to the Harvest edition of Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own." In 1984 she was one of 97 theologians and religious persons who signed A Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion
A Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion
A Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion, alternatively referred to by its pull quote "A Diversity of Opinions Regarding Abortion Exists Among Committed Catholics" or simply "The New York Times ad", was a full-page advertisement placed on October 7, 1984 in The New York Times by Catholics for...
, calling for religious pluralism
Religious pluralism
Religious pluralism is a loosely defined expression concerning acceptance of various religions, and is used in a number of related ways:* As the name of the worldview according to which one's religion is not the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus that at least some truths and true values...
and discussion within the Catholic Church regarding the Church's position on abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
.
Novelist Galaxy Craze
Galaxy Craze
Galaxy Craze is an actress. She moved to the United States with her mother in 1980. She appeared in a few independent films in the 1990s.She is a 1993 graduate of Barnard College....
has said of Gordon, "She loves to read; she would read us passages in class and start crying, she's so moved by really good writing. And she was the only good writing teacher at Barnard, so I just kept taking her class over and over. She taught me so much."
Circling My Mother: A Memoir (2007) marked her return to nonfiction after two works of fiction.
In 2009 she published a book called Reading Jesus. It uses Gordon's literary training to read the Gospels.
In 2011, she published The Love of My Youth.
Novels
- Final Payments (1978) ISBN 0-394-42793-9
- The Company of WomenThe Company of Women (Mary Gordon novel)The Company of Women is a novel by Irish-American author Mary Gordon. First published in 1981, it is a coming-of-age story which details the sheltered upbringing of a well-educated Catholic girl named Felicitas, and how her values are challenged and altered by the turbulence of the 1960s protest...
(1981) ISBN 0-394-50508-5 - The Other Side (1989) ISBN 0-670-82566-2
- Spending (1998) ISBN 0-684-85204-7
- Pearl (2005) ISBN 0-375-42315-X
- The Love of My Youth (2011) ISBN 0-307-37742-3
Novellas and short story collections
- The Rest of Life: Three Novellas (1994) ISBN 0-14-014907-4
- Temporary Shelter (1987) ISBN 0-394-55520-1
- The Stories of Mary Gordon (2006) ISBN 0-375-42316-8 (collects Temporary Shelter and 22 previously uncollected stories)
Non-fiction
- Memoirs
- The Shadow Man: A Daughter's Search For Her Father (1996) ISBN 0-679-74931-4
- Seeing Through Places: Reflections on Geography and Identity (2000) ISBN 0-684-86255-7
- Circling My Mother: A Memoir (2007) ISBN 0-375-42456-3
- Essays
- Good Boys and Dead Girls, and Other Essays (1991) ISBN 0-670-82567-0
- Religion
- Reading Jesus (2009) ISBN 0-375-42457-1
- Biography
- Joan of Arc (2000) ISBN 0-670-88537-1
Prizes and Awards
In 1993, Gordon received a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her other awards include a Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award, an O. Henry Award, and Academy Award for Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The Stories of Mary Gordon won The Story PrizeStory Prize
The Story Prize is an annual book award established in 2004 that honors the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction with a $20,000 cash award. Each of two runners-up receives $5,000. Eligible books must be written in English and first published in the United States during a calendar...
in 2007. In March, 2008 Governor Eliot Spitzer named Mary Gordon the official New York State Author and gave her the Edith Wharton Citation of Merit for Fiction.
External links
- Mary Gordon Interview transcript from the New York State Writers Institute
- http://www.barnard.edu/profiles/mary-gordon, an excellent unvarnished account on the Barnard website with links to recent work and reviews
- http://www.pbs.org/moyers/faithandreason/watch_gordon.html?playertype=windowsmedia;speed=hi;mediatype=video;media=%2Fwnet%2Fmoyers%2Ffaithandreason%2Fgordon-lo.rm%2C%2Fwnet%2Fmoyers%2Ffaithandreason%2Fgordon-hi.rm%2C%2Fwnet%2Fmoyers%2Ffaithandreason%2Fgordon-lo.wmv%2C%2Fwnet%2Fmoyers%2Ffaithandreason%2Fgordon-hi.wmv;helptemplate=%2Fmoyers%2Ffaithandreason%2Fwatch_help.html;basepath=%2Fmoyers%2Ffaithandreason%2Fwatch_gordon.html;prefchange=1Mary Gordon Interview], video with Bill Moyers for his program, 'Faith and Reason', from 2006
- Lopate Show with The Story Prize finalists: Rick BassRick BassRick Bass is an American writer and an environmental activist.-Life:Bass was born in Fort Worth, Texas, U.S., the son of a geologist, and he studied petroleum geology at Utah State University. He grew up in Houston, and started writing short stories on his lunch breaks while working as a petroleum...
, Mary Gordon, and George SaundersGeorge SaundersGeorge Saunders is a New York Times bestselling American writer of short stories, essays, novellas and children's books. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, McSweeney's and GQ, among other publications...
(2/27/07)