Carol Flynn

Background

About Carol Flynn

January 1, 2012, I became a Professor Emerita. I retired from teaching because I wanted to write for myself. Here's what's happened since then. Years ago I wrote a memoir about the animals that I've owned and lost. It's called, appropriately, THE ANIMALS. When I first used the title I was adding myself and my husbands and partners to the animal mix. This darkly comic memoir follows the adventures of pigs, goats, chickens, dogs and cats. Saddle Road Press publishes THE ANIMALS May 15. I just developed a blog about it and other animals, the-animals.net. I have also finished THE BURNT HILLS. Set in Berkeley, 1969-70, the novel examines the way the anti-war movement and the struggle for women's liberation and gay rights radically change three characters; a professor whose son is autistic, a wealthy widow, and a divorced graduate student. I've always been torn between doing scholarly and creative work. Before retiring, I never had enough time to carry through on my creative work,(i.e. get it published)-not since the publication of WASHED IN THE BLOOD, in 1983. I want to find a publisher for THE BURNT HILLS and a mystery that my husband, David Tarbet, and I wrote: YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD TO DIE. Next project: CAN WE KNOW THAT JESUS SAVES US, a novel about the religious right. BECOMING URBAN IN 18th CENTURY LONDON, is a long time work in process. It looks at the way eighteenth century novels, poetry and plays taught readers to locate themselves and their desires in the ever growing urban center of London. and sexuality, mapping, and the body. All of my writing depends upon context and spatial coordinates, sexual politics and history. I realized when I finished THE BURNT HILLS, that I was as interested in mapping Berkeley as I was in mapping London. I also realized that 1969 was as historical to some readers as the 18th century. Its time for readers to imagine themselves as political people with rights and abilities. Specialties: I am extremely interested in Girl's books, British and American, have taught this as an extremely satisfying course, and am interested in writing a YA novel about a family spending a year in Rome.