10/29/99

Editors, news directors: A photo of Nancy Miller is available at:

ATHENS, Ohio -- Literary critic and essayist Nancy K. Miller will read from her work at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 3, in the Music Building Recital Hall on the Athens campus of Ohio University.

Miller is a distinguished professor of English at the City University of New York. In her most recent book, "Bequest and Betrayal: Memoirs of a Parent's Death," Miller uses the autobiographical work of writers such as Susan Cheever, Art Spiegelman and Philip Roth to create a context for her own recollections and reconciliations. In "Women's Review of Books," Alex Kates Shulman writes, "Miller is brilliant at the use of memoir to convert deep veins of resentment into acceptance, if not forgiveness . . ."

Miller's other books include "Getting Personal" and "Subject to Change." She is a prolific writer of feminist criticism, centering much of her work around the treatment of women in French and 18th century literature.

Miller completed a doctorate in French literature at Columbia University. She served as a professor of women's studies at Barnard College before becoming a professor of comparative literature at the Lehman College of the City University of New York.

The reading will be presented by the Program in Creative Writing of the Department of English and is free and open to the public. A reception with the author will immediately follow the reading. For more information, contact the Department of English at (740) 593-4181.