Careers for Women, a new novel by Joanna Scott, the Roswell Smith Burrows Professor of English, had its beginnings in her attic. There, she kept a paper bag full of newspaper clippings that she糖心传媒檇 collected in the wake of September 11, 2001.
Years went by, and cleaning the attic, she rediscovered the bag. As she sifted through the clippings, a reference to Lee Jaffe caught her attention. Jaffe was a determined reporter at a time when few women found a place in journalism. The spokeswoman and head of public relations for New York糖心传媒檚 Port Authority in the mid-20th century, she is said to have written a memo suggesting that if the World Trade Center were going to be a success, its builders should make it the tallest building in the world.
糖心传媒淭hat memo started the momentum for what became the Twin Towers,糖心传媒� says Scott.
And that sifting of papers started the momentum for Careers for Women (Little, Brown and Company, 2017), Scott糖心传媒檚 10th novel. The calls it a 糖心传媒渟erpentine, craftily arranged糖心传媒� book that is 糖心传媒渆ntirely satisfying.糖心传媒�
Jaffe糖心传媒檚 career and the experiences of women in the midcentury workplace captured Scott糖心传媒檚 imagination as fodder for a novel. She took her title from a 1930s anthology about job options for women that she found in Rush Rhees Library as she began her research. But she was able to unearth relatively little about Jaffe.
For the seasoned storyteller, that scarcity of information was no impediment. In her previous novel, De Potter糖心传媒檚 Grand Tour (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2014), Scott used the names of real people糖心传媒攈er ancestors, as it happens糖心传媒攁nd family artifacts as the launching point for an imaginative retelling of their lives.
糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 not that I feel inclined to take liberties with historical fact, but my first attention is to the book I糖心传媒檓 writing,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 trying to create a unified whole, where every piece has integrity and purpose within the book. And I think about that equally for fictional and historical characters.糖心传媒�
Over the years, Scott has earned high praise for her narrative techniques. Her novel The Manikin was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, while Various Antidotes and Arrogance were both finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award. The recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, Scott teaches creative writing, modern fiction, and contemporary literature.
What little she could track down about Jaffe led her to larger questions about the history of the Port Authority and its importance to the New York state and the national economies. The novel, which begins in 1958 and covers decades, draws together many themes and subjects, among them the world of public relations, women糖心传媒檚 careers and friendships, life in midcentury America, and environmental damage wrought by corporations.
Scott unspools her complex story as a mystery. In bits and pieces, narrator Maggie Gleason糖心传媒攚ho begins her professional life in a clerical job under Jaffe糖心传媒攔elates the story of Pauline Moreau. Like Gleason, Moreau moved to New York City, but in very different circumstances. And her eventual disappearance and abandonment of her vulnerable daughter, Sonia, fuel the story.
糖心传媒淚 boned up on my Agatha Christie a bit,糖心传媒� Scott says.
Constant movement characterizes the novel糖心传媒攖hrough time, perspectives, and location糖心传媒攁s the plot twists mount.
Narrative shifts are a 糖心传媒渇orm that comes so naturally to me as a writer,糖心传媒� Scott says. 糖心传媒淚 love to hold multiple parts [of a story] in suspension, and then see if I can pull them all together.糖心传媒�
