The Woman Who Owned the Shadows (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Paula Marie Francis
- First Published: 1983
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: The 1970’s
- Setting: Albuquerque, New Mexico; San Francisco, California; and Oregon
- Principal Characters: Ephanie Atencio, Elena, Stephen, Teresa, Thomas Yoshuri, Agnes Atencio, Ben Atencio
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: 1970’s, North America or North Americans, Self-discovery, United States or Americans, Mythology or myths, 1980’s, West, U.S., Native Americans or American Indians, Women, Legends, New Mexico, Southwest, San Francisco, Pacific Northwest, Visions, epiphanies, or revelations
- Locales: San Francisco, CA, Oregon, Albuquerque, NM, Southwest (U.S.)
The Novel
In her novel The Woman Who Owned the Shadows, Paula Gunn Allen employs Laguna women’s traditions to trace one woman’s search for psychic balance. The novel is divided into four parts, each preceded by a prologue. These prologues tell the traditionally oral stories of Thinking Woman, also known as Spider Woman or the Grandmother, and of her two sister goddesses whom she sang into being, Uretsete and Naotsete. The bodies of the four parts are sectioned into short vignettes that follow middle-aged protagonist Ephanie Atencio as she struggles to gain a sense of...
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See Also:
Paula Gunn Allen (American Indians)Paula Gunn Allen (Identities and Issues)Paula Gunn Allen (Cyclopedia of World Authors)
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