162. Meridel Le Sueur — The Girl with Rosemary Hennessy
Originally drafted in 1939, the Prohibition-era gangster novel The Girl by Meridel Le Sueur remained unpublished for nearly 40 years. Le Sueur used the intervening decades to transform her work into a beautifully-written, powerful narrative, focusing on the lives of marginalized women in Depression-era America. Joining us is Dr. Rosemary Hennessy, a Professor of English at Rice University, whose most recent book, In the Company of Radical Women Writers, rediscovers the political commitments and passionate advocacy of seven writers, including Le Sueur.
Discussed:
“Women on the Breadlines” by Meridel Le Sueur
“The Dread Road” by Meridel Le Seur
“Annunciation” by Meridel Le Sueur
“Women Know a Lot of Things” by Meridel Le Sueur
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Women Talking novel by Miriam Toews
Women Talking film by Sarah Polley
Badlands film by Terrance Malick
“My People are My Home” film by Meridel Le Sueur
Lost Ladies of Lit episode No. 106 on Dirty Helen Cromwell’s Good Time Party Girl