This collection of essays by poet Julia Kasdorf probe, in her own words, the tangled threads of gender and cultural/religious identity as they relate to the emergence and exercise of literary authority. Her ten essays, accompanied by 42 illustrations (from a nude by Titian, to family photos, to a famous image of Marilyn Monroe) and a dozen of her poems, focus on specific aspects of Mennonite life. Often drawing from historical episodes or family stories,...