UO Today with Helena María Viramontes

Helena María Viramontes, the Goldwin Smith Professor of English at Cornell University, is the author of numerous short stories and two novels, Their Dogs Came with Them and Under the Feet of Jesus. She discusses her writing and Under the Feet of Jesus which is the University of Oregon's 2019-20 Common Reading selection. Viramontes also reads a passage from the book.

[@wryandwatchful]

I had the privilege of taking a few of her courses at Cornell. This person can FEEL. Every fiber of her being is empathy and every sentence you wrote for her in a piece, she would absorb as her own experience. I think that is her super power that made her a great writer.

[@ChristineAllen_yeni]

I love this woman and her work. When I first met her at a writer's conference, she heard me regarding my feelings about empathy, where previously I had been disparaged by people close to me with the rugged individualist perspective. I've never known a writer to be so devoted to writing communities and to supporting other writers, in addition to writing her own lovely, intense, and nuanced fiction. She reminds me of what I want the writing life to look and feel like.

[@ajconstantine3593]

One of the greatest writers of our time and NO COMMENTS after a year?!! That’s a tragedy in itself. When discovering the underlying meaning(a) of this book’s title, I actually got covered in goosebumps. This has never happened with a title before. Any English student or writer ought to read this. ✌️