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AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Marieke L. Steuben for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies in English, English, and Women Studies presented on March 16, 2007. Title: Voices of CALYX: Narratives of Feminist Publishing Activism, 1976-2006 Abstract approved: ________________________________________________________________________ Laura P. Rice This thesis examines the nature of publishing as a political endeavor through a detailed investigation of the feminist publishing movement in the U.S. since the 1970s. Feminist publishers emerged from an activist context of feminist struggle, and they evolved within changing political and social climates, facing ideological and economic challenges that led to their widespread demise. This project specifically traces the emergence and development of CALYX, a feminist literary publisher founded in 1976 in Corvallis, Oregon, and its relationship with the feminist movement. In-depth personal interviews with CALYX editors provide a narrative portrait of CALYX’s history in a feminist context and offer a detailed, personal account of feminist publishing activism. Using feminist research methodologies, this project highlights the participants’ narratives and focuses on the meanings they give to their experiences. A multi-vocal narrative format allows participants’ stories to be told in their own words and in their unique voices. Their stories give richness and depth to an analysis of CALYX’s feminist mission, accomplishments, and struggles as a feminist publisher. © Copyright by Marieke L. Steuben March 16, 2007 All Rights Reserved Voices of CALYX: Narratives of Feminist Publishing Activism, 1976-2006 by Marieke L. Steuben A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies Presented March 16, 2007 Commencement June 2007 Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies thesis of Marieke L. Steuben presented on March 16, 2007. APPROVED: ________________________________________________________________________ Major Professor, representing English ________________________________________________________________________ Committee Member, representing English ________________________________________________________________________ Committee Member, representing Women Studies ________________________________________________________________________ Chair of the Department of English ________________________________________________________________________ Dean of the Graduate School I understand that my thesis will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University Libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my thesis to any reader upon request. ________________________________________________________________________ Marieke L. Steuben, Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First I would like to thank the women at CALYX who inspired this thesis and contributed their personal stories to this project. It is because of your incredible efforts and achievements that this project exists. Thank you all for being so welcoming and generous with your memories of CALYX. Special thanks to Linda Varsell Smith for encouraging me to do an interview-based project, Beverly McFarland for her earlier research into CALYX’s history, and Margarita Donnelly for sharing important documents and stories during busy days at the office. I would like to thank Laura Rice, Lisa Ede, Anita Helle, Janet Lee, and Courtney Campbell for serving on my thesis committee and expressing so much enthusiastic interest in my project. Thank you all for your valuable input, especially in shaping my conception of the project as a narrative history using feminist qualitative research methodologies. In the writing of this paper, I was supported in many ways by my family and friends. Thank you for being encouraging and for believing that I could do it. Your support and patience helped me immensely. Special thanks to Anneliese for inspiring me with her own feminist interview research. Many thanks to Dennis Bennett whose insightful feedback was a lifesaver in the final month. Also, thank you to my writing group friends whose comments and questions helped so much with earlier drafts: Michelle King, Michael Faris, Sarah Burghauser, Sarah Ghasedi, Kryn Freehling, and Michelle Marie. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 A Feminist Narrative Project ...................................................................................1 My Position as Feminist Researcher........................................................................4 A Feminist Theoretical Paradigm ............................................................................8 WHY STUDY FEMINIST PUBLISHING?......................................................................16 Feminism, Women’s Studies, and Feminist Publishing ........................................18 Literary Studies and Feminist Publishing..............................................................29 The Future of Feminism.........................................................................................37 FEMINISM AND PUBLISHING ACTIVISM: A LITERATURE REVIEW..................41 Feminist Consciousness in Writing and Print........................................................43 Sexism and Discrimination in the Literary World.................................................54 Emergence of a Feminist Press Movement............................................................63 Threats to Feminist Publishing ..............................................................................75 An Incomplete Feminist Press Record...................................................................83 RESEARCH METHODS ..................................................................................................85 Perspectives on Feminist Narrative Inquiry...........................................................85 Feminist Interviewing and Participatory Research................................................91 Limitations .............................................................................................................95 VOICES OF CALYX: NARRATIVES OF FEMINIST PUBLISHING ACTIVISM ......98 A History of CALYX: 1976 to Present................................................................102 Feminist Literary Lives: Personal Histories of CALYX Editors.........................114 Narratives of CALYX: Achieving a Feminist Publishing Mission .....................152 CALYX’s Feminist Publishing Mission..................................................153 Significant Publishing Achievements......................................................169 Struggling against the Odds: A Feminist Publisher Survives..................192 A Continuing Need for Feminist Publishing ...........................................209 CONCLUSIONS..............................................................................................................218 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................223 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................230 Appendix A: Contributors’ Notes........................................................................231 Appendix B: Interview Questions........................................................................234 VOICES OF CALYX: NARRATIVES OF FEMINIST PUBLISHING ACTIVISM, 1976-2006 INTRODUCTION A Feminist Narrative Project This project examines the emergence and development of CALYX,1 a nonprofit feminist literary publisher in Corvallis, Oregon, in relation to the feminist movement contemporary with it. Founded in 1976, CALYX joined an emerging feminist press movement that paralleled feminism’s social and political movements of the time. As one of very few feminist publishers from the 1970s still operating today, CALYX at its thirtieth anniversary embodies a unique moment in feminist publishing history. This project traces CALYX and its relationship with feminism, as both CALYX and the feminist movement evolved, through narratives told by CALYX founders and editors. These narratives emerge from in-depth interviews with some of the founders and editors who helped shape CALYX’s feminist literary mission and publishing accomplishments. Through the stories of their experiences, this project narrates CALYX’s role in feminist publishing history in the voices of the women who made it happen. CALYX, Inc. is a small, independent publisher of women’s literature, poetry, and art. Physically as well as literarily, CALYX creates a “space” for women’s art and writing to flourish. From the tiny, cramped office in downtown Corvallis, Oregon, each year the organization publishes two issues of its literary journal, CALYX: A Journal of Art 1 Throughout this paper, I use “CALYX” to refer to the publisher as an organization and “CALYX” to refer to the literary journal of the same name, following the publisher’s own format. 2 and Literature by Women, and, in recent years, one book. Most of the forty books CALYX has published are collections of poetry, but their catalogue also contains novels, short story collections, and creative nonfiction. In both its book publishing and its literary journal, CALYX provides “a forum for all women’s voices,” including “diverse styles, images, issues, and themes which women writers and