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Powell's Staff: New Literature in Translation: June 2022 (0 comment)

June is one of my favorite months, especially here in Portland, where the weather can be beautiful and sunny one minute and a gray downpour with threats of thunder the next. It’s important to always be prepared to take advantage of those rainy afternoons, with a good mug of tea and a great book. Below, we’ve rounded up some of the books in translation released this past month....

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River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize||||I Am a Stranger Here Myself

by Debra Gwartney

ISBN13: 9780826360717
ISBN10: 0826360718
Condition: Standard

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Synopses & Reviews

Synopsis

Winner of the 2020 WILLA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction from Women Writing the West

Part history, part memoir, I Am a Stranger Here Myself taps dimensions of human yearning: the need to belong, the snarl of family history, and embracing womanhood in the patriarchal American West. Gwartney becomes fascinated with the missionary Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, the first Caucasian woman to cross the Rocky Mountains and one of fourteen people killed at the Whitman Mission in 1847 by Cayuse Indians. Whitman's role as a white woman drawn in to settle the West reflects the tough-as-nails women in Gwartney's own family. Arranged in four sections as a series of interlocking explorations and ruminations, Gwartney uses Whitman as a touchstone to spin a tightly woven narrative about identity, the power of womanhood, and coming to peace with one's most cherished place.

Synopsis

Part history, part memoir, I Am a Stranger Here Myself taps dimensions of human yearning: the need to belong, the snarl of family history, and embracing womanhood in the patriarchal American West. Gwartney becomes fascinated with the missionary Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, the first Caucasian woman to cross the Rocky Mountains and one of fourteen people killed at the Whitman Mission in 1847 by Cayuse Indians. Whitman's role as a white woman drawn in to "settle" the West reflects the tough-as-nails women in Gwartney's own family. Arranged in four sections as a series of interlocking explorations and ruminations, Gwartney uses Whitman as a touchstone to spin a tightly woven narrative about identity, the power of womanhood, and coming to peace with one's most cherished place.

About the Author

Debra Gwartney is the author of Live Through This: A Mother's Memoir of Runaway Daughters and Reclaimed Love and the coeditor of Home Ground: A Guide to the American Landscape. She teaches in Pacific University's MFA in Writing program and lives in Western Oregon.

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Average customer rating 5 (4 comments)

`	Emilee , August 16, 2019 This memoir is beautifully written. I loved being able to learn about the Whitman mission and the people whose choices changed history beyond what my daughter learned in her 4th grade history lessons. Gwartney's exploration of Narcissa Whitman's life and reflection on her own life as a Western woman gave me a lot to think about. I live in Idaho and I both love and it and feel out of place in it at the same time. Gwartney's memoir has given me the courage to claim this state as my home even though I don't fit the mold of the typical Idahoan. I highly recommend this compelling, reflective, and beautifully written memoir.
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`	John B , August 02, 2019 Stimulating book involving history and interweaving one's own life in the same general scenarios. Interesting perspectives of the emotions of not quite fitting into long-held family values and activities. Well worth a good read.
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`	Carrie , August 01, 2019 A must-read for both history lovers and self-explorers alike! Gwartney excavates the often conflicting realities of her own life as she recounts the tale of Pacific Northwest legend Narcissa Whitman. Gwartney eschews the traditional narrative of Whitman as heroine of the western frontier to reveal the rigid and extraordinary life of a woman driven to a grim existence by divine instruction. Simultaneously, Gwartney explores the unresolved questions of her own identify as a modern woman and descendant of pioneers like Whitman. Written with definitive prose, I Am a Stranger Here Myself will both educate and inspire readers!
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Product Details

ISBN:: 9780826360717
Binding:: Trade Paperback
Publication date:: 03/15/2019
Publisher:: University of New Mexico Press
Series info:: River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize
Language:: English
Pages:: 296
Height:: 8.5 in
Width:: 5.5 in
Author:: Debra Gwartney

$17.50

List Price:~~$24.95~~

Used Trade Paperback

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New, Trade Paperback, $24.95

`	KMK , March 28, 2019 (view all comments by KMK) A courageous narrative exploring a family history made up of individuals who value stoicism and “not talking about things” above all else. Gwartney defies these familial values seeking answers to who she is and how her relatives, from pioneer to current day, have played a part in her development while juxtaposing the history of Narcissa Whitman to her own. Any of us who love the Pacific Northwest or ask ourselves how we came to be who we are should read this beautifully written memoir/history
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