Allison's mother learned of the situation and put a stop to it, but the family still stayed together.Īt the age of eighteen, Allison left home to attend college in Florida. This situation lasted until Allison was eleven, at which time she finally brought herself to tell a relative. Her mother soon married, and when Allison was five her stepfather began sexually abusing her. It's what I've done." Author Biographyĭorothy Allison was born on April 11, 1949, in Greenville, South Carolina, to a poor, unmarried fifteen-year-old girl. For Allison once explained what storytelling meant to her in an interview she gave to Alexis Jetter of The New York Times Magazine: "I believe that storytelling can be a strategy to help you make sense of your life. If Bastard Out of Carolina sharply affects many readers because of the swell of truth behind the characters and theirĪctions, that is partially Allison's intention.
Before even reaching the age of thirteen, Bone has experienced a life's supply of disappointment, bitterness, self-hatred, and even hatred for her mother. Anney's need for love is so strong that she turns a blind eye to the abuse-physical, emotional, and sexual-that her second husband, Daddy Glen, heaps upon her young daughter. Bone's mother, a child herself, desperately seeks love and familial stability, which she has never experienced in her own large, unorthodox brood of kin. Bastard Out of Carolina is not Allison's first important piece of writing, but for many readers, it remains her truest.Īllison recounts the story of Ruth Anne "Bone" Boatwright, the illegitimate daughter of a fifteen-year-old, unmarried, uneducated waitress. Her stepfather sexually abused her for six years starting when she was only five years old, and her mother, whom Allison deeply loved, was unable or unwilling to deal with this issue. Allison was born to a poor, "white trash" southern family. A storyteller since childhood, Allison chronicles her discovery how … writing them down gives her power of the experiences." Dorothy Allison has never been shy about the autobiographical background of her powerful first novel Bastard Out of Carolina. Meem writes, "For Allison, writing is a dramatic, life-affirming act in a world which consistently threatens death. In her discussion of Dorothy Allison's literary career in Feminist Writers, Deborah T.
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