Class Definitions: On the Lives and Writings of Maxine Hong Kingston, Sandra Cisneros, and Dorothy Allison

Zandy's study sometimes proves more of a straightjacket for Tokarczyk than a guiding light; for example, she reads Kingston's Fifth Book of Peace as demonstrably working class because it is "to some extent inspired by historical events . . . which, as Zandy notes, is frequently the ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biography 2009, Vol.32 (3), p.550-553
Main Author: Schiff, Sarah Eden
Format: Review
Language:English
Subjects:
Allison, Dorothy
Biographies
Cisneros, Sandra
Class
Kingston, Maxine Hong
Literature
REVIEWS
Social classes
Studies
Upward mobility
Women's studies
Working class
Writing
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Summary:Zandy's study sometimes proves more of a straightjacket for Tokarczyk than a guiding light; for example, she reads Kingston's Fifth Book of Peace as demonstrably working class because it is "to some extent inspired by historical events . . . which, as Zandy notes, is frequently the case with working-class writing" (89). Because it is possible to make the case that much literature is inspired by history, we require a more thorough discussion of what is distinctively working class about The Fifth Book of Peace, and why that specific paradigm matters.
ISSN:0162-4962
1529-1456
1529-1456
DOI:10.1353/bio.0.0115