Zona Gale, Miss Lulu Bett

Deborah Williams (New York University)

Ed. by Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1920

Places

United States, Wisconsin (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel
Play

Resources

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Gale's satirical novel, published in 1920, describes the awakening of a shy, overworked spinster who rebels against her exploitative family and achieves happiness on her own terms. Miss Lulu's awakening occurs as a result of a whirlwind romance with a man who marries her and then reveals that he is still married to another woman. Although she returns to her miserable existence as family drudge, Lulu soon wants to be free of her family and she decides to strike out on her own. Her independence attracts another, more respectable man who declares his love for Lulu; the two of them leave town together in a marriage that Gale describes as an egalitarian partnership.

Gale's feminism asserted itself when she revised the novel into the stage play: Miss Lulu doesn't marry but instead declares

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279 words

Citation: Williams, Deborah. "Miss Lulu Bett". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3564, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Zona Gale, Miss Lulu Bett

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