Ma's Dictionary: Straddling the Social Class Divide

Ma's Dictionary: Straddling the Social Class Divide
Author: Milan Kovacovic

Ma’s Dictionary is a memoir about an improbable life journey through radically different sectors of society—from the “lowest” to the “highest”... and back—in France, Slovakia, and the United States. The manuscript itself has a long and unusual French-English bilingual history, with numerous public readings since its inception and several chapters receiving literary awards, most notably from the Minnesota State Arts Board. The book is a Publishers Weekly Staff Pick for “Best Read of the Year” and has been selected by the Library of Congress for its permanent collection.

Illustrated. 338 pp. @2011. $14.95 Purchase secured through Paypal

Prologue/Synopsis

Contents

I. Synopsis: Mother and Son, an Odyssey

(3-page overview of the book's 22 independent chapters)

                                               II. Midwest Trilogy

1. Chicago Blues
2. The North Country
3. Ma’s Dictionary

                          III. Saint-Aquilin-de-Pacy-sur-Eure, my Beautiful Village
4. Slovakia, a Shattered Idyll
5. Madame Mercier, Schoolteacher
6. Laundry Day by the River
7. Payday at the Village Tavern
8. To the Source

                                             IV. Paris, the Bewitching City

9.   Lycée de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Scholarship Student
10. 51 Rue Raynouard, “Olga’s Brother”
11. 64 Avenue Henri-Martin: “…Ordre et beauté / Luxe, calme et...”

                                              V. U.S.A., a Jagged Journey

12. Americas
13. School Daze
14. Narrow Escape
15. Hobo Junction
16. Earn your Living, Botch your Life—The Brutal Way
17. Earn your Living, Botch your Life—The Gentler Way
18. U.S. Army
19. Peace, Love, and Body Bags: San Francisco Airport, Summer 1967
20. “Oxford-by-L.A.”, the Oasis at Claremont

                                                      VI. Fast Forward

21. Disentangling the Psyche
22. Workin’ at the U.