Jane Smiley, 1949-
A Thousand Acres
Background
- Born in Los Angeles; grew up in St. Louis
- Educated at Vassar College (B.A.) and the University of Iowa (M.A., M.F.A., Ph.D.).
- Currently lives in northern California. Married three times with two children from
her second marriage and one from her third.
Career
- Taught at Iowa State University from 1981 until 1992. Retired from teaching to devote
her time to writing.
- Received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Heartland
Award in 1991 for A Thousand Acres.
Major Writings
Barn Blind: A Novel. (1980)
At Paradise Gate: A Novel (1981)
Duplicate Keys (1984), mystery novel
Age of Grief (1988)
The Greenlanders (1989)
Ordinary Love/Good Will (1989)
A Thousand Acres (1992)
Duplicate Keys (1993)
Moo (1995)
The All-True Travels and Adventures of Linda Newton (1998)
Critical Sources and Reviews
- For online reviews of the novel, see The New
York Times, October 31, 1991 and November 3, 1991: "Books of the Times:
On an Iowa Farm, a Tragedy with Echoes of Lear" by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt and
"King Lear in Zebulon County" by Ron Carlson, [book archive search:
"Thousand Acres"]
- For printed reviews, see, in addition, The Chicago Tribune Books, November 3,
1991 and November 24, 1991 and The Washington Post, October 27, 1991.
- Gale Database: Contemporary Authors
- Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 78, Gale.
- Daughters and Fathers in Feminist Novels, Barbara H. Sheldon, 1997.
