Washerwoman of Breton
by Greta Schuler
[Editor’s Note: Click on the triptych below to view it at full size.]
Greta Schuler’s work has appeared in various journals, including the Crab Orchard Review, Creative Nonfiction, Confrontation, and PANK (online). She has her MFA in Creative Writing from American University and is currently pursuing her PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa
What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “Washerwoman of Breton”? I’ve become interested in issues of appropriation while trying to write about my experiences conducting creative writing workshops with migrant sex workers in South Africa. When I saw Jules Breton’s painting “The Washerwomen of Breton,” I was immediately drawn to the figure looking over her shoulder at the viewer with what seemed to me seemed a defiant glare. I wondered what the models in his painting, mostly rural laborers, thought about being depicted by the famous painter.
Check out the write-up of the journal in The Writer.
Matter Press recently released titles from Meg Boscov, Abby Frucht, Robert McBrearty, Tori Bond, Kathy Fish, and Christopher Allen. Click here.
Matter Press is now offering private flash fiction workshops and critiques of flash fiction collections here.
Submissions
Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now open. The reading period for standard submissions closes again December 15, 2023. Submit here.
Upcoming
11/27 • Michael Mark
12/04 • Helen Beer
12/11 • Rachel Rodman
12/18 • Betsy Robinson
12/25 • Trish Hopkinson
12/31 • Kim Chinquee
01/01 • Jill Michelle