Julia Kasdorf

This book is many things, but more than anything, it focuses on the path of an artist or individual working to come to terms with their own cultural identity, a society's expectations, and their devotion to writing. This may sound fairly broad, for a book apparently focused on 'writing from a Mennonite life', but while Kasdorf's concerns and questions all revolve around her place within (or outside of) the Mennonite community, the questions at the heart of the book are questions which I think every writer or artist faces in some context and moment, if not consistently. As such, this book is both more than and less than what I'd hoped for. It speaks to a broader artistic and individualistic experience against the backdrop of society, but in that almost global nature of concern, it also comes across as far more familiar, and far less unique, than what I'd actually expected.

There are moments where Kasdorf focuses in specifically on Mennonite history and cultural trauma, and those are probably the most striking moments in the work. She is a gifted essay writer, smoothly melding together memoir, history, poetry, and supposition, but at many points, the essays are almost too objective and logical to be as potent as I would have expected, given her poetry.

All together, I enjoyed the read. At the same time, though, it came across as more academic than conversational or narrative, and I simply expected more based on my experience with her poetry. However, if you're looking for essays on Mennonite identity or artists, literary authority, or cultural identity, this may very well be a collection worth picking up.… (plus d'informations)

This is fairly straight-forward narrative poetry, but beautifully written. Some of the poems are admittedly too far toward prose for my taste, but then, there are some poems here that totally blew me away, to the extent that I found myself sitting and reading them over...and over....and over. I may not come back to this volume as a whole, but I'm glad to have visited with it...and there are some poems here which I will return to repeatedly. For anyone who enjoys beautiful language, narrative poetry, or writing regarding womanhood, I'd recommend this volume highly.… (plus d'informations)

Julia Kasdorf's poems deal with life in a Pennsylvania Mennonite community and the tensions and conflicts that exist for the writer as she attempts to intergrate her Mennonite background and her new life in New York. As one who grew up in the Mennonite community, Julia Kasdorf's poetry evokes for me vivid images of our similar heritage. For those not familiar with this community, her poetry gives a glimpse of another way of life. Many of the poems are based on family stories, examining the history of her extended clan and its Mennonite and Amish community. The author's central themes are individual/community, outside/inside, city/county, profane/sacred, and female/male. With these universal themes, her poetry resonates with readers who are atempting to integrate past and present. Her writing is direct, frank and open -- somewhat unusual for Mennonite poets. Her poems have the capacity to resonate and move the reader to new understanding --important aspects of good poetry.… (plus d'informations)