Description
This – Elizabeth Bowen’s last book – is a collection of her writings that is wonderfully varied in subject matter yet bound together by the consistent sensibility, the precision of feeling, the special vision, and the unique style that were so unmistakably Elizabeth Bowen’s. The first few chapters of her unfinished autobiography, along with her outline for the rest, make up the opening section. Then follows the beginning of a novel, on which she was working at the time of her death (to have been called The Move-In); an essay on one of Proust’s characters, the writer Bergotte; an a nativity play written for performance in an Irish Cathedral. A reissue of her highly valued and much-quoted ‘Notes on Writing a Novel’ completes the book.
In a forward, Miss Bowen’s friend and literary executor, Spencer Curtis Brown, describes the writer he knew and tells something of her thoughts about the material collected here. She often discussed her writings with him, and he suggests how events in her life affected her continual search for and mastery of new skills.
Those who already love Elizabeth Bowen will be fascinated by this collection. Others not yet familiar with her work will find it a delightful introduction and will be drawn – as will coming generations – to seek out her books whose excellence will outlive any whims of fashion or time.
Hardcover, 193 pages. In very good pre-loved condition with the exception of being ex-library and one page (blank and at the back) is torn.