The first-ever collection of essays from across Elizabeth Hardwick's illustrious writing career, including works not seen in print for decades. A New York Times Notable Book of 2017 Elizabeth Hardwick wrote during the golden age of the American literary essay. For Hardwick, the essay was an imaginative endeavor, a serious form, criticism worthy of the literature in question. In the essays collected here she covers civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s, describes places where she lived and locations she visited, and writes about the foundations of American literatureMelville, James, Whartonand the changes in American fiction, though her reading is wide and international. She contemplates writers liveswomen writers, rebels, Americans abroadand the literary afterlife of biographies, letters, and diaries. Selected and with an introduction by Darryl Pinckney, the Collected Essays gathers more than fifty essays for a fifty-year retrospective of Hardwicks work from 1953 to 2003. For Hardwick, writes Pinckney, the poetry and novels of America hold the nations history. Here is an exhilarating chronicle of that history.
- | Author: Elizabeth Hardwick, Darryl Pinckney
- | Publisher: Nyrb Classics
- | Publication Date: Oct 17, 2017
- | Number of Pages: 641 pages
- | Language: English
- | Binding: Paperback
- | ISBN-10: 1681371545
- | ISBN-13: 9781681371542