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Dissertation Information for Sheila O'Connor-Ambrose

NAME:
- Sheila O'Connor-Ambrose

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Women's Studies

SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (2007)

ADVISORS:
- Pamela M. Hall

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Mary E. Odem
- Mark Bauerlein

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: "That I will find my best life": The role of marriage in the quest for the dedicated life in the works of Gail Godwin

Abstract: Since 1970, Gail Godwin (1938- ) has published twelve novels, two books of short fiction, one book of non-fiction, a volume of her journals, numerous essays and reviews, and collaborative librettos with Robert Starer. She has received critical praise and recognition, although not as much as she deserves, and has earned the loyal and grateful attention of millions of American readers, who find in her a familiar and compelling storyteller of women's lives in the socially and culturally complicated decades bridging the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. Godwin has always been concerned with the role of vocation in contemporary women's lives--the quest for the dedicated life in which to fulfill and express one's unique gifts. One of Godwin's earliest heroines, Jane Clifford, prays to "find my best life," which includes finding a vocation that fits "like a snug sock." Godwin repeatedly returns throughout her work to the quest to find one's best life, which requires discovering one's best-fitting vocation and cultivating lasting love that offers meaning and fulfillment. In Godwin's work, marriage offers a unique terrain in which to find one's own dedicated life, a blessed and mutually supportive mixture of meaningful work and sustaining love. This study will examine especially how Godwin treats marriage as a challenge to a woman to become who she truly is, a challenge that in turn allows her to help others--spouse, family, and community--to find their own best lives.

MPACT Scores for Sheila O'Connor-Ambrose

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-03-24 09:19:17

Advisors and Advisees Graph