cover image Backtalk: Women Writers Speak Out: Interviews

Backtalk: Women Writers Speak Out: Interviews

. Rutgers University Press, $24.95 (340pp) ISBN 978-0-8135-1991-3

The emphasis in this revealing collection of interviews conducted by Perry, a professor of English at William Paterson College in New Jersey, is on the diversity of her subjects. Although all but two of the 15 women authors interviewed write in English (Rosario Ferre and Gloria Anzaldua both write in Spanish), they represent a variety of countries and ethnic backgrounds, and include lesbians as well as heterosexuals. Perry structures her questions in such a way as to elicit information on how each writer's background contributes to her work, as well as on how sexism and racism have cast an influence. All the writers claim to feel a political as well as a literary commitment. Most are novelists and short-story writers (Gloria Naylor, Maxine Hong Kingston and Mary Beckett), but Perry has also included nonfiction writer Vivian Gornick and poet Paula Gunn Allen. Photos. (Dec.)