Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1, 25, University of Frankfurt (Main) (Institut für England und Amerikastudien), course: Grace Paley, 12 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Grace Paley is a well-renowned author of prose and poetry, a political activist, and a passionate mother and grandmother. She never detached her working as an author from her family life and her own family relationships, but made it a central subject of her work. Her life and work resist separation, it would only result in artificial and false distinctions. Besides political concerns and feminist issues, the family and generational relationships are the main focus in both Grace Paley's life and work. I will analyze this in three steps: first I will examine her biography and its influence on her work. In a second step I argue that the subject of family is a central and repeating issue in Grace Paley's work, exemplifying this on a selection of short stories and poems. In the third and final section I will show how family matters are interwoven with feminist issues.