Abstract:
This article provides a short discussion of Tillie Olsen, her life, her work, her political activism, and the obstacles that class and gender impose on an artist's ability to find the time to be creative. In the interview that follows, Olsen delves into her early life, her passion for literature and writing, and how her background, economic class and politics are infused in her writing. Click on the link above to read the interview. For A.O. Scott's provocative discussion of some of the issues Olsen raises in this interview and of her place in the American literary canon, click on the link below.