V. S. Pritchett is one of my favorite writers, partly because he’s so good at so many things! Want to read a great short story? Try “The Camberwell Beauty” where Pritchett shows how the antique business can become an obsession. Want to know how you’ll feel when you turn 80? Pritchett tells you in “As Old As the Century.” Pritchett was born on December 16, 1900 and died March 20, 1997. During those years, Pritchett wrote biographies, novels, short stories, travel writing, and literary criticism.
If you think you understand Mark Twain, read Pritchett’s short essay on Twain’s writings. You’ll come away knowing more about what Twain’s writings were all about. The same with his essays on George Eliot and Dickens. The Pritchett perspective is deeply insightful
The Pritchett Century: A Selection of the best of V. S. Pritchett is a gold mine of wonderful writing! Highly recommend! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Foreword by Oliver Pritchett — ix
In Memoriam: V. S. Pritchett by John Bayley — xiii
Autobiography
As Old as the Century : V.S. Pritchett at Eighty — 3
From A Cab at the Door — 13
From Midnight Oil — 62
Travel Writing
The Appalachian Mountains — 93
From Marching Spain — 120
From The Spanish Temper — 130
From Foreign Faces — 161
From New York Proclaimed — 182
From Dublin : A Portrait — 193
London — 198
Amazonia — 221
Novels
From Dead Man Leading — 229
From Mr. Beluncle — 249
Short Stories
Sense of Humour — 267
The Evils of Spain — 284
The Oedipus Complex — 291
Things As They Are — 297
When My Girl Comes Home — 308
The Liars — 361
The Camberwell Beauty — 373
Did You Invite Me? — 406
The Marvellous Girl — 421
The Vice-Consul — 433
The Fig Tree — 442
Cocky Olly — 472
The Image Trade — 501
Biography
From The Gentle Barbarian : the Life and Work of Turgenev — 513
From Chekhov : A Spirit Set Free — 533
Literary criticism
Mark Twain — 545
Samuel Richardson — 552
Sir Walter Scott — 560
Charles Dickens — 573
George Eliot — 579
Honoré de Balzac — 590
Ivan Turgenev — 603
Henry James — 609
James Boswell — 616
Tobias Smollett — 622
Saki — 628
George Meredith — 633
Miguel de Cervantes — 543
Leo Tolstoy — 649
Gabriel García Márquez — 655
S.J. Perelman — 664
Saul Bellow — 669
Gerald Brenan — 678
Molly Keane — 685
John Osborne — 691
Salman Rushdie — 698
I read Pritchett’s autobiographical A CAB AT THE DOOR and MIDNIGHT OIL and liked them very much. But I had to quit his Collected Short Stories after reading a couple of blatantly anti-Semitic stories that really turned me off.
Jeff, I highly recommend Pritchett’s Complete Collected Essays .
Wow, George! It’s been a long time since I thought about this guy.
I have that collection that Jeff mentioned. Might be time to revisit and see what holds up.
Beth, I think Pritchett’s essays hold up better than some of his short stories (written many decades ago). Some of the stories seem dated to me, but many are still first-rate.
I’m currently reading Lauren Groff’s collection DELICATE EDIBLE BIRDS. I found her “Majorette” disturbing. She writes very well.
Jeff, I think Diane’s Book Club is considering Lauren Groff’s DELICATE EDIBLE BIRDS for their next book.