SOURCE: White, Leah E. “Silenced Stories: May Sarton's Journals As a Form of Discursive Resistance.” In Women's Life-Writing: Finding Voice/Building Community, edited by Linda S. Coleman, pp. 81-90. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1997.

In the following essay, White scrutinizes Sarton's struggle with depression as expressed through her journals.

It is tricky business offering the world a story that does not fit into mainstream culture and yet has its own life, its own fragile right to exist.

—Carmela Delia Lanza

May Sarton could be considered one of the century's most prolific writers. Before her death in 1995, Sarton had written over twenty books of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Despite the remarkable contribution she has made to the literature of the past century, Sarton's works have been largely ignored by major critics. Maureen Teresa McCarthy argues that Sarton's fierce independence may have contributed to her lack of...