Collected Essays
A Quaker childhood, a hefty dose of adolescent insecurity, a conflicted relationship with 1970s Women’s Lib, an ill-advised business venture, a disastrous foray into politics, a post-retirement stint as a snow-bird—these and other experiences provide opportunities to reflect on larger questions: Where does the stuff that makes up a life begin? How do memories of childhood shape our view of the present? How do reflections from the present help make sense of the past? Those are some of the questions buried here in stories of childhood imaginings, adolescent insecurity, and the gradual evolution of a mature, then aging woman.
Evocative and reflective, The Stuff of Life is literary non-fiction at its finest…With an eye for the telling detail, including a remarkable recollection of childhood perceptions; with masterful dialogue and vivid storytelling, Dunning explores what “stuff” can be pruned out of family attics without losing the ancestral continuities that link the generations. As for that other “stuff of life,” the stories that are the foundation of personal memory, she excavates these with precision, bringing her real-life characters to the page with vibrant clarity.
— Erna Paris, journalist, political commentator, and author of Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History
From memories enhanced with a pinch of imagination, Paula Dunning crafts stories worth telling of how to reconcile principles and dreams with sometimes disappointing and often comical everyday reality. The stuff of her life speaks to her with clear-sighted, unflinching honesty and a keen eye for the ridiculous. Embracing the uncertainties of our times, Dunning illuminates the complexities of her experiences in vignettes that are by turns hilarious and heart-rending.
— Marilyn Cooper, author of The Animal Who Writes