Major Works
Short Story Collections
- Acts of God (2014)
- Ellen Gilchrist: Collected Stories (2009)
- Nora Jane: A Life in Stories (2005)
- I, Rhoda Manning, Go Hunting with My Daddy, And Other Stories (2003)
- The Cabal and Other Stories ( 2000)
- Flights of Angels (1998)
- Nora Jane (1996)
- The Courts of Love (1996)
- The Age of Miracles (1995)
- Rhoda: A Life in Stories (1995)
- I Cannot Get You Close Enough: Three Novellas (1990)
- Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle (1988)
- Drunk With Love: A Book of Stories (1986)
- Victory Over Japan (1984)
- In the Land of Dreamy Dreams (1981)
Novels
- A Dangerous Age (2008)
- Sarah Conley (1997)
- Starcarbon: A Meditation on Love (1994)
- Net of Jewels (1992)
- The Anna Papers (1988)
- The Annunciation (1983)
- Anabasis: A Journey to the Interior
Poems
- The Land Surveyor’s Daughter: Poems (1979)
- Riding out the Tropical Depression: Selected Poems, 1975-1985 (1986)
Non-Fiction
- The Writing Life (2005)
- Falling Through Space: The Journals of Ellen Gilchrist (1987)
Biography of Ellen Gilchrist
According to Wendell Brock, in her acclaimed novels and short story collections, the Mississippi writer Ellen Gilchrist “taps the human heart with unmistakable empathy — and unerring humor.” She was born on February 20, 1935, near Vicksburg, Mississippi, in Issaquena County. Her parents were Aurora (Alford) and William Garth Gilchrist. At the age of fourteen, she wrote a column called “Chit and Chat About This and That” for a local Franklin, Kentucky, paper. She attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy. At nineteen, Gilchrist married Marshall Walker, an engineering student, and they had three children. When she divorced Walker, she enrolled in a creative writing course at Millsaps College in Jackson, where she was taught by Eudora Welty. She also studied creative writing at the University of Arkansas, where today she is a faculty member.
Ellen Gilchrist’s first collection of short stories, In the Land of Dreamy Dreams, was published by the University of Arkansas Press in 1981 and reissued in hardcover and paperback by Little, Brown and Company in 1985. Her first novel, The Annunciation, was published in 1983, and her second collection of short stories, Victory Over Japan, for which she received the National Book Award for Fiction, was published in 1984. She now has more than seventeen books of her work published. Ellen Gilchrist has received numerous awards, including the Mississippi Arts Festival Poetry Award; the New York Quarterly Craft in Poetry Award; the National Endowment of the Arts Grant in Fiction; and the Mississippi Academy of Arts and Science Award for Fiction. In addition, she has received the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Literature Award three times for the books In the Land of Dreamy Dreams, Victory Over Japan, and I Cannot Get You Close Enough.
UPDATE 2014:
Ellen Gilchrist continues to teach in the Creative Writing and Translation program of the Department of English at the University of Arkansas. Her book The Writing Life was published by The University Press of Mississippi in 2005 and Nora Jane: A Life in Stories was published by Little Brown also in 2005. Her novel, A Dangerous Age, was published in 2008. It is the story of three women of the Hand family who are cousins in a “Southern dynasty rich with history and tradition who are no strangers to either controversy or sadness,” according to the publisher Algonquin of Chapel Hill. Other more recent works include Acts of God (2014), Ellen Gilchrist: Collected Stories (2009), Nora Jane: A Life in Stories (2005), and I, Rhoda Manning, Go Hunting with My Daddy, And Other Stories (2003).
She has been married and divorced four times (two to the same man) and has three children. Although Gilchrist presently lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas, she maintains a house in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, as well.
Reviews
A Review of Revenge
by Cherie Clinton (SHS)
Ellen Gilchrist’s “Revenge” is a short story about overcoming obstacles. “Revenge” is set in mid-summer during World War I in Issaquena County, Mississippi. The tone chosen for this story changes from the light feel of childhood to the mature feelings of war. The story changes from third-person omniscient to first-person point of view very quickly. The narrator is the main character. The theme of the story is that no matter how big a challenge seems, it can always be accomplished. In this short story, Gilchrist develops character as well as plot. The characters in the story are dynamic as they change during the course of the story. The main character is Rhoda. Other important characters are Rhoda’s four cousins: Philip, Bunkey, Saint John, Oliver, and her brother, Dudley. Rhoda’s grandmother, Miss Onnie Maud, and Lauralee also play a part in the literary work. The characters who change are her cousins and brother. Before they realize Rhoda’s abilities, they think that girls can’t do any of the things that guys do. The grandmother, Miss Onnie Maud, and Lauralee realize that women do not have to follow the strict standards of Southern women after Rhoda overcomes her obstacle. Although the plot develops over a short time period, it is very elaborate. The story begins with Gilchrist reminiscing about the summer of Broad Jump Pit. Then Rhoda tells the story of her summer with her grandmother in the Delta. The main conflict occurs when Rhoda and Dudley’s father writes to tell them to build an Olympic training field. The four cousins and Dudley guard the field from Rhoda day and night. A battle is started between Rhoda and the five boys. The highlight of the story is when Rhoda finally defeats the boys and gets to pole vault on the field.
I liked the story because of the intense character development as well as the plot development. The story proves that people, just like books, cannot be judged by their covers. With determination and perseverance, obstacles can be overcome.
A Review of The Best Meal I Ever Had Anywhere
by Cherie Clinton (SHS)
In the narrative poem “The Best Meal I Ever Had Anywhere,” Ellen Gilchrist uses little character development; however, she has a fast-paced plot. The poem is told in the first- person point of view. The tone is light and pleasant up until the last two verses, which are quite crude. The setting is a Sunday dinner with the speaker’s family. All of the children sit on books except for Bunky, who has the high chair. In the end the speaker gets her revenge on Bunky. This poem is related to “Revenge” in that it has some of the same characters and the main character got her revenge after being denied her equal rights while growing up with boys. I really enjoyed this poem because it was similar to the short story “Revenge.” Gilchrist uses some of the main characters from her other works, and the characters and incidents seem to be somewhat autobiographical.
A Review of Starcarbon
by Lynn Rowan (SHS)
The novel Starcarbon by Ellen Gilchrist is filled with compassion, heartaches, and finding love in all the wrong places and at the wrong times. The main characters in the novel experience many obstacles as they learn to love and understand other people in their lives. As the three main characters, Olivia, Georgia, and Jessie are faced with a lot of trying times and difficult obstacles to over come, they also help each other over come these hard obstacles.
While struggling to find herself in life, Olivia tries to learn how to love and trust the people around her. In order to do this, she is sent to a psychiatrist, whom she tells about how her life and how her mother left her father before she was born. While giving birth to Olivia, her mother died and left Olivia to grow up with her Cherokee relatives, not ever knowing who her father was.
When Olivia was sixteen years old, her Aunt Anna came and took her to Charlotte, North Carolina, to live with the father she never knew. Here she spent the rest of her teenage years growing up with a half sister, whom she was not close to, and to a father who she did not know well. Jessie is faced with a very different problem. She is faced with the problem of getting pregnant at the age of eighteen, dropping out of college, and living with a husband who is going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and trying to get cleaned up to provide a better life for his family. Jessie is also faced with the same problem that Olivia faces, that of an alcoholic father who is drinking his life away, although he does not realize that he is drinking to the point of being poor.
Georgia, however, has other obstacles to face. She is faced with her lover, Zach Biggs, who is not able to make sacrifices for the sake of their relationship. Georgia meets Olivia as one of the students in her Anthropology class. As Olivia and Georgia become closer as pupil and teacher, they also become closer as friends. Together they form a special bond, helping each other overcome their difficult obstacles. Georgia helps Olivia learn how to love her fiancé, Bobby Tree. And in turn, Olivia helps Georgia try to understand Zach’s side of the relationship. Olivia is also faced with the problem of worrying about what her father’s side of the family will think about Bobby. Olivia’s knowing that Bobby’s father is in jail makes her a little doubtful as to whether she should marry him or not.
This novel is written in the third person omniscient point of view. The narrator/ author of the story is not a character in the novel, but she foresees all. The plot is very up lifting, although the obstacles get tough , the characters are able to help each other overcome any obstacles they face. Gilchrist wrote this novel to capture the reader’s mind and heart. She also wrote the novel to entertain the reader. The settings that the story takes place in describe the backgrounds of the different characters. The title of this novel is very symbolic to Bobby. In order to get Olivia away from some of the problems that she faces, he tells her “We can go to Montana, to Starcarbon, Tom and Sherrill’s ranch.” I believe that the reason Gilchrist makes Bobby say this is because, according to him, there is nothing that can bother you at Starcarbon Ranch. Everything is just perfect.
The novel’s theme is about life’s hardships and difficulties and how you can find love anywhere. I believe that Gilchrist is trying to say that you can find love anywhere and anytime. In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel because of the way it relates the lives of many different people with different backgrounds. Ellen Gilchrist is not only a noted Mississippi author, she is also a well known American author.
Related Websites
- Ole Miss Writers Page gives biographical information for Gilchrist.
- Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture includes Gilchrist.
- Faculty page for Gilchrist at University of Arkansas
Bibliography
- Abbot, Dorothy. Mississippi Authors: An Anthology. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 1991.
- Hall, Sharon. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Volume 34. Detroit, Michigan 48226: Gale Research Book Tower, 1985.
- McCrowski, Daniel G. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Volume 48. Detroit, Michigan 48226: Gale Research Book Tower, 1985.
- Medical Humanities. Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database, 1996.
- University of Arkansas English Department page of books by Gilchrist.
- University of Arkansas English Department faculty list includes Gilchrist.