Wiedemann, Barbara 1945–

PERSONAL: Born October 30, 1945, in NJ; daughter of Waldemar (an engineer) and Vlaja Anita (a homemaker; maiden name, Dudzic) Kemp; married Knut Wiedemann, 1965 (divorced, 1988); children: Nichole. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: State University of New York at Buffalo, B.A., 1969; University of South Florida, M.A., 1980, Ph.D., 1986. Hobbies and other interests: Outdoor sports, including kayaking, rock climbing, wind surfing, hang gliding, and mountain biking.

ADDRESSES: Home—3245 Wilmington Rd., Montgomery, AL 36105. Office—Department of English, Auburn University at Montgomery, P.O. Box 244023, Montgomery, AL 36124. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: University of Alabama at Huntsville, Huntsville, assistant professor of English, 1986–87; University of Florida, Gainesville, lecturer in English, 1987–88; Auburn University at Montgomery, Montgomery, AL, assistant professor, 1988–93, associate professor, 1993–2000, professor of English, 2000–.

MEMBER: College English Association (member of board of directors, 1994–97, 2005–), Academy of America Poets, Popular Culture Association in the South (member of executive council, 1994–97), South Atlantic Modern Language Association, Alabama Writers' Forum.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Robert C. Evans) "My Name Was Martha": A Renaissance Woman's Autobiographical Poem, Locust Hill Press (West Cornwall, CT), 1993.

(With Robert C. Evans and Anne C. Little) Short Fiction: A Critical Companion, Locust Hill Press (West Cornwall, CT), 1997.

Josephine Herbst's Short Fiction: A Window to Her Life and Times, Susquehanna University Press (Cranbury, NJ), 1998.

Contributor to books, including War and Peace: Perspectives in the Nuclear Age, edited by Ulrich Goebel and Otto Nelson, Texas Tech University Press (Lubbock, TX), 1988; and Marguerite Duras Lives On, edited by Janine Ricouart, University Press of America (Lanham, MD), 1998. Contributor to reference books. Contributor of articles, essays, poetry, and reviews to magazines and newspapers, including Texas English Journal, Kerf, Feminist Studies, Rive Gauche, Colere, American Whitewater, and Journal of Durassian Studies.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Two poetry manuscripts, A Woman and a Dog and The Half-Life of Love.

SIDELIGHTS: Barbara Wiedemann once told CA: "Research has been for me a way of understanding myself, others, and our culture. Writing has been a byproduct of that research. I approach scholarship from a feminist perspective that has been slowly (too slowly) acquired over the years. Thus my choice of subjects is usually, but not always, women writers, especially women writers of the South, the region where I have made my home. My interest lies in the fact that their fiction often records a woman's struggle for identity and autonomy in a strong, and often hostile, patriarchal society, a struggle that I, and dare I say, most women must engage."

More recently, she added: "Since 2000 I have discovered a new passion—poetry. My poems seem to center on several themes: nature and the environment, a woman's experience in American culture, and the importance of a community and connection to others. Certain poems, such as those of Denise Levertov, have resonated with me. I hope that others (only a few would be fine) will say the same of my work."