FROM THE PUBLISHER

As expatriates in Germany and Austria in the 1930s, Kay Boyle, Katherine Anne Porter, Jean Stafford, and Lillian Hellman saw the rise of Nazi ideology firsthand. And while all four clearly realized—as their work demonstrates—that ethical behavior is the personal corollary of political conviction, scholars of these important American writers have long neglected the significance of the mingling of writing, ethics, and politics in their work. In American Women Writers and the Nazis Thomas Austenfeld restores ethics and politics to the central places they held in the lives and work of these four women. By documenting the political and ethical apprenticeships each woman served in Germany and Austria, Austenfeld convincingly argues that the genius of these writers exists precisely in their ability to continue the development of their best creative sensibilities—in spite of and indeed because of the ethical challenges they faced as women writers in the tense prewar world.

FROM THE CRITICS

Booknews

Addressing a perceived gap in critiques of the works of four North American women expatriate authors in 1930s Germany, Austenfeld (language and literature, North Georgia State College/State U.) analyzes their responses to fascism as part of their creative development. Exploring the theme of personal ethics, the author compares Kay Boyle's novels such as (1936) with Katherine Anne Porter's (1962). He also discusses Jean Stafford's collected stories of Heidelberg and Lillian Hellman's play, . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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