Cite This Page I Stand Here Ironing I Stand Here Ironing by
Tillie Olsen group rates for schools and districts  I Stand Here
Ironing  In A Nutshell  Tillie Olsen is well known now as an
author and critic, but in many ways her life mirrored the one
she describes in "I Stand Here Ironing." As a young mother in
the 1940s, her writing life was put on hold while she raised her
four children. It was only when the last of her four children
had grown up that Olsen was able to return to writing. "I Stand
Here Ironing" is part of a collection of four short stories
entitled Tell Me a Riddle, whose title story won the O. Henry
award in 1961.  Olsen, who came from a working-class background
and was committed to labor activism, devoted her life to
describing the challenges of working-class women. Her book
Silences (1978) is considered a foundational work of feminist
literary criticism. In it, she explores the specific life
circumstances (such as motherhood) that women writers face and
represent in their fiction. Let's let