Lisa Alther (b.1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, and magazine journalist. She is renowned for her pessimistic view of personal and political relations, often portrayed with a potent strain of black humor—specifically in her use of the grotesque.
Born in Kingsport, Tennessee, Alther was educated at Wellesley College. Her first novel Kinflicks (1976) humorously describes the escapades of a young woman navigating the gender stereotypes of her time. Nobel laureate Doris Lessing enthusiastically endorsed Kinflicks.
After Alther moved away from the South, the anecdotal style of conversation in the region helped form her literary style. As with Kinflicks, her subsequent novels Other Women (1984,) Bedrock (1990,) and Five Minutes to Heaven (1995) portray the experiences and mishaps of their female protagonists. Kinfolks (2007) explores her family ancestry. Besides, Alther published a small number of short stories and many magazine articles.
Through Doris Lessing, Alther met Idries Shah (1924–96,) the writer, thinker, and teacher of Sūfī mysticism. Alther wrote reviews for Shah’s World Tales (1979) and other adaptations of Sūfī classical works.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Lisa Alther
That’s the risk you take if you change: that people you’ve been involved with won’t like the new you. But other people who do will come along.
—Lisa Alther
Topics: Change, Risk-taking
If this was adulthood the only improvement she could detect in her situation was that she could now eat dessert without eating her vegetables.
—Lisa Alther
Inspiration never arrived when you were searching for it.
—Lisa Alther
Topics: Inspiration
I happen to feel that the degree of a person’s intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting attitudes she can bring to bear on the same topic.
—Lisa Alther
Topics: Intelligence, Attitude
Any mother could perform the jobs of several air traffic controllers with ease.
—Lisa Alther
Topics: Mothers
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