Literature Help: Yonnondio: From the Thirties

By Students' Academy

“Yonnondio: From the Thirties” by Tillie Olsen was written in the 1930s, but it was first published in 1974.

The novel revolves around the struggles faced by the Holbrook family during the 1920s. The story is basically about the life of the working-class family. It also deals with the themes such as socioeconomic order, motherhood, and the pre-depression era.

The novel was left unfinished by the author and consequently it was published as an unfinished work.

There is no doubt that “Yonnondio” is a very interesting book, but the history of the book is equally interesting.

The major part of the novel was written by Tillie Olson when she was only nineteen years old.

Literature Help: Yonnondio: From the Thirties
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: May 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310550492

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Literature Help: Yonnondio: From the Thirties

Copyright

Literature Help: Yonnondio: From the Thirties

Students' Academy

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Chapter One: Introduction

Yonnondio: From the Thirties by Tillie Olsen was written in the 1930s, but it was first published in 1974.

The novel revolves around the struggles faced by the Holbrook family during the 1920s. The story is basically about the life of the working-class family. It also deals with the themes such as socioeconomic order, motherhood, and the pre-depression era.

The novel was left unfinished by the author and consequently it was published as an unfinished work.

There is no doubt that Yonnondio is a very interesting book, but the history of the book is equally interesting.

The major part of the novel was written by Tillie Olson when she was only nineteen years old.

Olsen once mentioned that she probably began the writing of this novel in March 1932. It was the same month she got pregnant with her first child.

The present form in which the novel is available today is the ‘recovered’ text.

It is said that in the year 1972, Jack, Olsen’s husband, discovered her notes, chapters, and scraps among her old papers.

He started working on the book and during the following two years he pieced the novel together and then got it published in the present form in 1974.

The narration of the novel is sometimes uneven only because of this reason. The point of view keeps on shifting among the characters.

Since Olsen refused to write new portions of the novel, even for the benefit of clarity and closure, the present book is an open-ended text which encourages readers towards their participation.

When she began writing the novel in 1930s, she was already an active participant in the Young Communists’ League. In 1934, she got arrested for her active role in the violent San Francisco Maritime Strike. Her future husband, Jack Olsen, was also with her in the jail.

Olsen was arrested on a vagrancy charge, which was a typical crime which was associated with the Communists in the United States.

She had some unforgettable experience while she was in jail. She wrote two essays about her experiences in jail. Two essays about her jail-experiences got published. The book publishers began to locate her but she was in prison.

Eventually, she was tracked down by two publishers at Random House. They were ready to pay her a