Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Of This Ground: Land As Refuge In The Works Of Three Kentucky Women Writers, Nicole Marie Drewitz-Crockett

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the memoirs, novels, and short stories of three women writers whose work is heavily invested in a sense of place and privileges women’s relationships to the land: Harriette Simpson Arnow, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Barbara Kingsolver. All of these women spent their formative years in Kentucky, which for the purposes of this project classifies them as “Kentucky writers.” As a group these women offer a one possible solution to modern concerns for women: a relationship to the land as refuge. Engagement with the land as refuge provides a sense of satisfaction, a source of therapy, and a …