Lucy Ellmann Online 2023
Lucy Ellmann was born in 1956, in Evanston, USA, but she has been living in Britain since her teen years. Her texts invariably cast a satirical look at life in general and the American way of life in particular, as Ducks, Newburyport (2019, fiction) and Things Are Against Us (2021, essays) perfectly illustrate. Furthermore, Ellmann’s texts deal with such relevant questions as gender gaps, the joys and sorrows of motherhood, the blurring limits of private and public space, misinformation and fake news, consumerism, and climate change, among other timely themes.
For readers who want to know more about Lucy Ellmann and her work, a selection of open-access sources is provided below.
Retrieved from LitHub
Biographies
Biography of Lucy Ellmann presented by the British Council, section on Writers.
A funny and alternative biography of Lucy Ellmann by The Baffler, an American left-wing printed and digital magazine of art and criticism. Besides the author’s biography, readers can find numerous essays by Ellmann, published between 2015 and 2022.
Interviews and news articles
Interview by Nahlah Ayed, the host of IDEAS, at CBC radio, March 24, 2022, to read and/or listen to.
Interview by Rachel Léon, Chicago Review of Books, October 1, 2021, following the publication of Ellmann’s collection of essays Things Are Against Us. The juxtaposition of themes in Ellmann’s fiction and nonfiction is one of the main topics of conversation in León’s interview which was conducted via email.
News article by Baya Simons, Financial Times, July 30, 2021, following the publication of Ellmann’s Things Are Against Us. Simons concludes that “Ellmann is one of the few writers producing modernist work for the contemporary moment”.
Lucy Ellmann talks about things worth seeing, in an article suggestively titled “On my radar: Lucy Ellmann’s cultural highlights”, published on July 10, 2021, by The Guardian. The six topics included (fiction, comedy, art, opera, film and nature) are indicative of the writer’s interests.
Opinion essay by Michelle Ruiz, Vogue, December 11, 2019. Ruiz comments on a series of interviews following the publication of Ducks, Newburyport as Ellmann’s heavy criticism of motherhood brought about an equally strong response by readers and critics.
Opinion essay by Michelle Ruiz, Vogue, December 11, 2019. Ruiz comments on a series of interviews following the publication of Ducks, Newburyport as Ellmann’s heavy criticism of motherhood brought about an equally strong response by readers and critics.
Lucy Ellmann reads a fragment from her novel Ducks, Newburyport at CBC radio, October 11, 2019, and illustrates the technique of stream of consciousness used to express the flow of her narrator’s mind.
Interview by Nora Krug, The Independent, September 29, 2019. Among other interesting topics, the interview revolves around Ellmann’s criticism of the American society and her peculiar vision as she is simultaneously an insider and an outsider. Ellmann was born in the USA but moved to the UK when she was a teenager. She is married to another American writer and, as she confesses in the interview, in her head she never left America.
Interview by Lori Feathers, Literary Hub, September 9, 2019. In addition to other interesting topics, Feathers urges Ellmann to talk about form and content vis-à-vis her recently published novel Ducks, Newburyport.
Interview given to The Guardian, August 16, 2019. On this occasion, Ellmann reveals more about her reading habits and book preferences.
Interview by Alison Flood, The Guardian, February 9, 2013, which focuses on Mimi, first novel by Ellmann told from a male perspective.
News article on Lucy Ellmann, by The Irish Times, March 19, 1998, following the release of Man or Mango, Ellmann’s third novel. Besides the novel itself, the article focuses on many biographical data concerning Ellmann.
Reviews
Review of Lucy Ellmann’s Things Are Against Us, by Catherine Taylor, The Guardian, July 3, 2021. Taylor presents Ellmann as Virginia Woolf’s literary heir.
Review of Lucy Ellmann’s Things Are Against Us, by Hephzibah Anderson, The Guardian, June 28, 2021, which presents an interesting overview not only of Ellmann’s collection of essays but her work and style in general.
Review of Lucy Ellmann’s Ducks, Newburyport, by Alex Preston, The Guardian, July 15, 2019. Preston’s technique to introduce the novel is quite interesting as he mimics the strategy adopted by Ellmann in her own text to address “the chaos of consciousness”, that is, he writes his first paragraph without full stops and adopts the phrase “the fact that” to initiate every new statement. The point is making readers realise how demanding but equally rewarding Ellmann’s novel can be.
Review of Lucy Ellmann’s Mimi, by Laura Miller, The Guardian, February 15, 2013, which presents some interesting points on Ellmann’s first male narrator.
