I’ve enjoyed Elizabeth Hardwick’s essays over the years so this new collection of Hardwick’s more obscure essays caused me to rejoice! Take “On Reading the Writings of Women” for example. I’m always intrigued by writer’s opinions of other writers. Hardwick writes, “I found the English novelist Iris Murdoch’s book The Bell nearly unreadable. It seemed to me slow, unreal, with a superabundance of symbolic action that dulled the edge of the inspiration.” (p. 223-224).
While Hardwick wasn’t impressed by Murdoch’s work, she did read Doris Lessing’s books and raved: “These books are all superb–the works of a woman with an extraordinary gift for fiction.” (p. 224)
Many of these pieces originally were published in magazines which reflects both the content and the writing style. “Faye Dunaway” shows Hardwick’s knowledge of movies and how they display societal issues. Hardwick can also be nerdy in articles like “Knowing Sontag” and “Balanchine.”
The weakest articles–simply because they’re dated–are the political pieces. Does anyone remember the Kennedy scandals beyond Chapppaquiddick? Hardwick provides plenty of evidence that all the Kennedy men trifled with women not their wives.
If you’re looking for intelligent commentary on social, literary, cultural, and political issues, The Uncollected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick provides plenty to think about. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction vii
The Art of the Essay 1
Places, People, Things
New York City: Crash Course 13
Lexington, Kentucky 24
Puritanical Pleasures 37
The Émigré 47
Balanchine 54
Faye Dunaway 59
Knowing Sontag 65
Katherine Anne 68
Things 77
Piety and Politics
Elections 87
Mr. America 90
Piety and Politics 97
The Kennedy Scandals 106
The Menendez Show 122
Family Values 139
Head Over Heels 155
On Behalf of the Unborn 167
Feminine Principle
The American Woman as Snow Queen 171
The Feminine Principle 180
Women Re Women 189
The Ties Women Cannot Shake, and Have 196
Is the “Equal” Woman More Vulnerable? 200
Suicide and Women 206
When to Cast Out, Give Up, Let Go 213
Readings
On Reading the Writings of Women 223
Reading 229
Southern Literature: The Cultural Assumptions of Regionalism 236
Musings
Basic Englishing 251
Parsifal 255
The Eternal Heartbreak 257
The Heart of the Seasons 263
Notes on Leonardo and the Future of the Past 270
Grits Soufflé 276
Christmas Past 278
Acknowledgments 280
Sources 281
What I’ve read of Hardwick has been hit or miss and mostly long ago. But I’m absolutely in opposition to the primary example above. I love Murdoch and have read most of her novels but have never been able to get into anything I’ve tried by Lessing.
Michael, reading tastes vary. I’ve read both Murdoch and Lessing but I’ve not had Hardwick’s strong feelings about either one.
Haven’t heard her name in quite a while but she was a force thirty years back.
Patti, I’m glad NYRB Books reprints writers from the past. As you say, Hardwick was a force decades ago. Some of these essay in this book show why.
These are the kinds of books I like. I am far from an expert, but from my limited experience, I’m with her. I found the Murdochs I tried unreadable (maybe it was the wrong books), which I liked Lessing’s THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK when I read it in the ’70s.
Jeff, I’m impressed by the range of Hardwick’s writing. She read and reviewed dozens of writers and also engaged in cultural criticism. I’m sure you would enjoy this collection.
Never hears of her!
Bob, here’s the info on Elzabeth Hardwick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Hardwick_(writer)
Thanks, but I have no interest!
I have heard of and read only a little of Hardwick’s work, and I can believe she preferred Lessing to Murdoch, but wonder what she made of Lessing’s sf writing. (It was intentionally written in bureaucratese, basically.)
Todd, I have Lessings SF novels, but haven’t read them (yet) because the reviews universally condemned the bureaucratese style.
Also, it’s more than useful to recall the rakishness (not meant as praise) of the Kennedy men…considering the innate misogyny of their family at least through William Kennedy Smith, or the irresponsibility of JFK Jr., it unfortunately still has too many resonances, even if mostly among throwbacks such as Trump and Gaetz. And (sorry, Patty) the unfortunate effects it has had in their legacies in this country’s body politic, at least, more generally.
RFK. Jr.’s problematic nature runs in other directions, no more cheering. I wonder if he or Marianne Williamson will get more primary votes.
Todd, I would go with Marianne Williamson garnering more votes than RFK, Jr. But, I’ve been known to be wrong on occasion.