Biography - Ratner, Rochelle (1948-)
Contemporary Authors - January 1, 2004

This digital document, covering the life and work of Rochelle Ratner, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thomson Gale. The length of the entry is 1166 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

citation details

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Family: Born December 2, 1948; daughter of Herman (a business executive) and Esther (Tischler) Ratner. Education: Studied at Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, 1968, and New School for Social Research, 1969. Addresses: Home: 609 Columbus Ave., New York, NY 10024. Office: American Book Review, Box 188, Cooper Station, New York, NY 10003. E-mail: rratner@idt.net.

Editor and writer. Member of National Book Critics Circle board of directors, 1995--; worked for Poetry-in-the-Schools programs in New York, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

WRITINGS BY THE AUTHOR:POETRY

• A Birthday of Waters, drawings by Neil Greenberg, New Rivers (New York City), 1971.
• False Trees, drawings by Nathan Whiting, New Rivers, 1973.
• The Mysteries, Ragnarok (Holly Springs, MS), limited edition, 1976.
• Pirates's Song, Jordan Davies (New York City), limited edition, 1976.
• The Tightrope Walker, Pennyworth (Calgary), 1976.
• Graven Images, illustrated by Bernard Solomon, Boxwood, 1977.
• Quarry, New Rivers (St. Paul, MN), 1978.
• Combing the Waves, images by Bernard Solomon, Hanging Loose (Brooklyn, NY), 1979.
• Sea Air in a Grave Ground Hog Turns Toward, Segull, 1980.
• Hide and Seek, Ommation, 1980.
• Practicing to Be a Woman: New and Selected Poems, Scarecrow Press (Metuchen, NJ), 1982.
• Someday Songs: Poems toward a Personal History, woodcuts by Bernard Solomon, BkMk (Kansas City), 1992.

Also author of Zodiac Arrest, 1995. OTHER

• (Translator) Paul Colinet, Selected Prose Poems, Clown War, 1975.
• Women Writing in America: Trying to Understand What It Means to Be a Feminist (criticism), Contact II, 1984.
• Bobby's Girl (novel), Coffee House Press (Minneapolis), 1986.
• The Lion's Share (novel), Coffee House Press, 1991.
• (Editor, contributor, and author of introduction) Bearing Life: Women's Writings on Childlessness (contains poems, fiction, and essays), Feminist Press at the City University of New York (New York City), 2000.

Contributor of poetry, articles, and fiction to numerous literary journals and reviews, including Nation, Sumac, Shenandoah, National Jewish Monthly, Pequod, Poetry Review, and New Women's Times. Book reviewer, Library Journal, 1975--. Co-editor, Hand Book, 1978--. Editor of various periodicals, including book review editor, East Village Other, 1970-72; editor (and columnist), Soho Weekly News, 1975-82; executive editor (and columnist), American Book Review, 1978--; poetry editor, Israel Horizons, 1991--.

"Sidelights""I write from my experiences with myself," Rochelle Ratner once told CA, "not from the landscape around me as much as I like to think I do. If I went to other places, my poems would most likely remain with the imagery I've been using all along--that of the sea, and my childhood." The bulk of Ratner's published books are collections of her poetry. Twelve volumes and about two decades after her debut A Birthday of Waters, she released 1992's Someday Songs: Poems toward a Personal History. A Publishers Weekly assessment praised the collection, complimenting the "simplicity, clarity and depth of feeling" in Ratner's poetry. "Ratner's intelligence, perceptiveness, craft and humility before the material [primarily] win out," concluded the reviewer for Publishers Weekly.

Ratner has published more than just poetry. Besides poetry, she has contributed articles, book reviews, and fiction to various periodicals. She translated Paul Colinet's Selected Prose Poems, released in 1975, and, in 1984, published a work of criticism titled Women Writing in America: Trying to Understand What It Means to Be a Feminist. Ratner debuted as a novelist in 1986 with the release of Bobby's Girl. Her second novel, The Lion's Share, appeared in 1991. The Lion's Share profiles Jana, a struggling artist/art gallery curator in New York. Jana is a thirty-four-year-old virgin who, after meeting a man to which she is attracted, struggles to overcome the sexual abuse she endured as a child.

In addition to writing, Ratner has worked, in various capacities, as an editor. She has edited a number of periodicals, including East Village Other, Soho Weekly News, American Book Review, and Israel Horizons; and is the editor of Bearing Life: Women's Writings on Childlessness, an anthology published in 2000. For Bearing Life. Ratner compiled works by more than four dozen North American women, including Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, and Grace Paley. The fiction, essays, and poetry in Bearing Life present "an analysis of society's attitude" as well as an exploration of "the lies, the fears, and the dreams of childless women," summarized Joyce Sparrow in Library Journal. Sparrow was extremely impressed with Bearing Life, praising it as a "compelling. . . . fascinating collection." In addition to editing the 2000 publication, Ratner contributed pieces to the anthology and wrote its "candid and eloquent introduction," observed Booklist's Donna Seaman, who applauded the "premier literary anthology" and its treatment of "a broad spectrum of emotions and viewpoints." The selections "[touch] on such themes as HIV, abortion, the lesbian/feminist movement and overpopulation," indicated a Publishers Weekly reviewer who judged: "While a few entries are less memorable, the volume contains many well-written, thoughtful pieces."

FURTHER READINGS ABOUT THE AUTHOR:PERIODICALS

• Booklist, February 1, 2000, Donna Seaman, review of Bearing Life, p. 1004.
• Library Journal, April 1, 1980, Margaret Gibson, review of Combing the Waves, p. 862; December 15, 1980, Susan Shafarzek, review of Combing the Waves, p. 2544; February 1, 1981, review of Sea Air in a Grave Ground Hog Turns Toward, p. 358; September 1, 1982, review of Practicing to Be a Woman, p. 1663; October 15, 1986, Leonard Kniffel, review of Bobby's Girl, p. 111; September 15, 1991, Vicki Cecil, review of The Lion's Share, p. 114; September 1, 1992, Molly Abramowitz, review of Someday Songs, p. 179; February 1, 2000, Joyce Sparrow, review of Bearing Life, p. 84.
• Publishers Weekly, September 12, 1986, John Mutter, review of Bobby's Girl, p. 90; August 16, 1991, review of The Lion's Share, p. 54; September 21, 1992, review of Someday Songs, p. 80; December 20, 1999, review of Bearing Life, p. 55.
• New York Times Book Review, December 7, 1986, Jill McCorkle, review of Bobby's Girl, p. 24.*

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Citation Details

Publisher: Thomson Gale
Publication:Contemporary Authors (Biography)
Date: January 1, 2004