Susann Cokal
Encyclopedia
Susann Cokal is an American contemporary fiction
author
and academic. Cokal has contributed short stories to anthologies and journals including Prairie Schooner, Hayden's Ferry Review
, Bellevue Literary Review
, and Gulf Stream
. She has also contributed essays about contemporary writers to Critique and Centennial Review. She is also a reviewer of fiction for the New York Times Book Review.
Cokal was an assistant professor of creative writing and modern literature at California Polytechnic State University
. She is now a professor of literature and creative writing at Virginia Commonwealth University
, Richmond, Virginia
. The range of her interests can be seen in her contributions to the St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture on abortion
, supermodels, Kate Moss
, and zoos.
because I'm fascinated with the idea that no matter how 'civilized' we've become, we still need this very primal function; also, wet nursing was the more honorable way for a woman to make a living from her body."
Cokal's first novel, Mirabilis is set in the fourteenth century in Villeneuve, France. Its protagonist is a wet nurse whose breasts provide an unending supply of milk. Reviewing the book for the Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, Joy Parks commented, "Mirabilis is original, humorous, and fascinatingly bizarre, an enigmatic story wrapped in a gauze of feminine sensuality." In The New York Times, Sudip Bose wrote, "Cokal's prose is vivid, and she is adept at scenes ... that recreate a distant and terrifying world."
The book's (fictional) endnotes about the settings and characters were convincing enough that many readers presumed the book was based on real incidents. They are, however, fictional.
Cokal's second novel, Breath and Bones, was released in 2005. (A paperback edition was released in 2006.) It is a comic picaresque whose protagonist, an artists' model and muse named Famke, travels the western United States
in the 1880s. Humor, sexuality and Cokal's vivid writing abound. Reviews, while overall positive, were more mixed than for Mirabilis; though Cokal intended the book to be a romp, some critics called the book unrealistic.
Wrote The New York Times: "Cokal's storytelling blends the morbid and the titillating with imaginative exuberance. And while the story of Famke's quest is no literary masterpiece, it brings to mind the question Martin Amis asked of Lolita
: how was it possible to limit her adventures to this 300-page blue streak -- to something so embarrassingly funny, so unstoppably inspired, so impossibly racy?
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and academic. Cokal has contributed short stories to anthologies and journals including Prairie Schooner, Hayden's Ferry Review
Hayden's Ferry Review
Hayden's Ferry Review is a well-regarded internationally distributed American literary magazine, published semi-annually by Arizona State University. Founded in 1986, the Review is headquartered in the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at ASU...
, Bellevue Literary Review
Bellevue literary review
Bellevue Literary Review is a literary journal that publishes fiction, nonfiction and poetry about the human body, illness, health and healing. The Bellevue Literary Review is based in Bellevue Hospital, the oldest public hospital in the United States, and has been published by the Department of...
, and Gulf Stream
Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates at the tip of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean...
. She has also contributed essays about contemporary writers to Critique and Centennial Review. She is also a reviewer of fiction for the New York Times Book Review.
Cokal was an assistant professor of creative writing and modern literature at California Polytechnic State University
California Polytechnic State University
California Polytechnic State University, or Cal Poly, is a public university located in San Luis Obispo, California, United States. The university is one of two polytechnic campuses in the 23-member California State University system....
. She is now a professor of literature and creative writing at Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University is a public university located in Richmond, Virginia. It comprises two campuses in the Downtown Richmond area, the product of a merger between the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia in 1968...
, Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. The range of her interests can be seen in her contributions to the St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture on abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, supermodels, Kate Moss
Kate Moss
Kate Moss is an English model. Moss is known for her waifish figure and popularising the heroin chic look in the 1990s. She is also known for her controversial private life, high profile relationships, party lifestyle, and drug use. Moss changed the look of modelling and started a global debate on...
, and zoos.
Fiction
Cokal told Contemporary Authors that some of the inspiration for her first novel, Mirabilis, "came from the year I lived in Poitiers, France. In between studying medieval art and history, I used to sneak into a decrepit medieval church whose nave was open to the sky. That church (renamed) is where Mirabilis begins. I wrote about a wet nurseWet nurse
A wet nurse is a woman who is used to breast feed and care for another's child. Wet nurses are used when the mother is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cultures the families are linked by a special relationship of...
because I'm fascinated with the idea that no matter how 'civilized' we've become, we still need this very primal function; also, wet nursing was the more honorable way for a woman to make a living from her body."
Cokal's first novel, Mirabilis is set in the fourteenth century in Villeneuve, France. Its protagonist is a wet nurse whose breasts provide an unending supply of milk. Reviewing the book for the Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, Joy Parks commented, "Mirabilis is original, humorous, and fascinatingly bizarre, an enigmatic story wrapped in a gauze of feminine sensuality." In The New York Times, Sudip Bose wrote, "Cokal's prose is vivid, and she is adept at scenes ... that recreate a distant and terrifying world."
The book's (fictional) endnotes about the settings and characters were convincing enough that many readers presumed the book was based on real incidents. They are, however, fictional.
Cokal's second novel, Breath and Bones, was released in 2005. (A paperback edition was released in 2006.) It is a comic picaresque whose protagonist, an artists' model and muse named Famke, travels the western United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the 1880s. Humor, sexuality and Cokal's vivid writing abound. Reviews, while overall positive, were more mixed than for Mirabilis; though Cokal intended the book to be a romp, some critics called the book unrealistic.
Wrote The New York Times: "Cokal's storytelling blends the morbid and the titillating with imaginative exuberance. And while the story of Famke's quest is no literary masterpiece, it brings to mind the question Martin Amis asked of Lolita
Lolita
Lolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian...
: how was it possible to limit her adventures to this 300-page blue streak -- to something so embarrassingly funny, so unstoppably inspired, so impossibly racy?
Works
- Mirabilis, Putnam (New York, NY), 2001
- Breath and Bones, Unbridled Books (Denver, CO), 2005.