Alice Munro

Alice Munro, the woman’s literary voice, solved one of the conundrums of science—how to quantify what happens in human interaction. Because there are no graphs or pie charts specifying proportions, she wrote fourteen collections of stories and stand-alone narratives, a wealth of fiction based on matter-of-fact observation and evaluation of unfathomable consequences. To get to the core of the matter, she relied on simplicity and a lack of affectation. This book simplifies for readers, teachers, librarians, journalists, and feminists the one hundred eighty-eight works of a Canadian prodigy, a massive body of prose daunting for one person to scrutinize. One hundred A-to-Z topics survey twenty-five story collections and the author’s book introductions and essays. Generous commentary by literary critics and journalists listed with affiliations offer a range of opinions about Alice’s style and subject matter. Entries highlight the intangibles—parenting, achievers, sex, women, feminism, coming of age—alongside historical themes of World War II, health, religion, and Ontario. This first of its kind companion endeavors to be the most complete treatment of the Canadian writer to date.

Author Biography

Mary Ellen Snodgrass is an award-winning author of English and Latin textbooks and reference works for 40 years. She taught at Hickory High School and Lenoir Rhyne University in North Carolina for 23 years. Her writing focuses on women’s and world literature and history and general research topics, including epidemics, the history of money, clothing, food, and dance. She lives in Hickory, North Carolina.