Norma Ashe is Susan Glaspell’s eighth and penultimate novel. It was published in 1942 by Lippincott, which at that time also donated the metal plates of Glaspell’s earlier novels to the war effort, with the result that they could not be reprinted, virtually guaranteeing the demise of Glaspell’s reputation as a novelist (Ozieblo 269). While she hoped the success of her new novel would avert this fate, it did not do well. Critical reaction was divided. According to Linda Ben-Zvi, the “New Yorker dismissed it as a Christian Science tract” (380); however, Rose Feld’s review in the New York Times gave it unqualified praise: “The story of Norma Ashe is . . . a deeply probing …
3126 words
Citation: Carpentier, Martha. "Norma Ashe". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 October 2017 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16012, accessed 22 November 2024.]