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W-3 - A Memoir (Paperback)
Bette Howland; Introduction by Yiyun Li
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R250
R195
Discovery Miles 1 950
Save R55 (22%)
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Ships in 7 - 12 working days
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'Dazzlingly and daringly written' Rachel Cooke, Observer W-3 is a
small psychiatric ward in a large university hospital, a world of
pills and passes dispensed by an all-powerful staff, a world of
veteran patients with grab-bags of tricks, a world of dishevelled,
moment-to-moment existence on the edge of permanence. Bette Howland
was one of those patients. In 1968, Howland was thirty-one, a
single mother of two young sons, struggling to support her family
on the part-time salary of a librarian; and labouring day and night
at her typewriter to be a writer. One afternoon, while staying at
her friend Saul Bellow's apartment, she swallowed a bottle of
pills. W-3 is a vivid - and often surprisingly funny - portrait of
the extraordinary community of Ward 3 and a record of a defining
moment in a writer's life. The book itself would be her salvation:
she wrote herself out of the grave. Originally published in 1974
and rediscovered forty years later, this is the first edition of
W-3 to be published in the UK. With an original introduction by
Yiyun Li, author of Where Reasons End. 'W-3 is one hell of a debut'
Lucy Scholes, Paris Review 'Howland is finally getting the
recognition that she deserves' Sarah Hughes, iNews
‘Reminiscent of Edna O’Brien, with shades too of Jean Rhys.’
– The Irish Times Things to Come and Go showcases the
incomparable talent of Bette Howland in three novellas of stunning
power, beauty, and sustaining humour. ‘Birds of a Feather’ is a
daughter’s story of her extended, first-generation family, the
‘big, brassy yak-yakking Abarbanels’. Esti, a merciless, astute
observer, recalls growing up amid (the confusions and difficulties
of) their history, quarrels, judgements, noisy love and inescapable
bonds of blood. In ‘The Old Wheeze’ a single mother in her
twenties returns to her sunless apartment after a date at the
ballet. Shifting between four viewpoints – the young woman, the
older professor who took her out, her son, and her son’s
babysitter – the story masterfully captures the impossibility of
liberating ourselves from the self. In ‘The Life You Gave Me’,
a woman at the midpoint of life is called to her father’s
sickbed. A lament for all that is forever unsaid and unsayable, the
story is ‘an anguished meditation on growing up, growing old and
being left behind, a complaint against time.’ (The New York
Times) First published in 1984, Things to Come and Go, Bette
Howland’s final book, is a collection of haunting urgency about
arrivals and departures, and the private, insoluble dramas in the
lives of three women. With an introduction by Rumaan Alam,
bestselling author of Leave the World Behind.
'W-3 is one hell of a debut' Lucy Scholes, Paris Review 'At moments
dazzlingly and daringly written' Rachel Cook, Observer 'Howland is
finally getting the recognition that she deserves' Sarah Hughes,
iNews W-3 is a small psychiatric ward in a large university
hospital, a world of pills and passes dispensed by an all-powerful
staff, a world of veteran patients with grab-bags of tricks, a
world of dishevelled, moment-to-moment existence on the edge of
permanence. Bette Howland was one of those patients. In 1968,
Howland was thirty-one, a single mother of two young sons,
struggling to support her family on the part-time salary of a
librarian; and labouring day and night at her typewriter to be a
writer. One afternoon, while staying at her friend Saul Bellow's
apartment, she swallowed a bottle of pills. W-3 is a vivid - and
often surprisingly funny - portrait of the extraordinary community
of Ward 3 and a record of a defining moment in a writer's life. The
book itself would be her salvation: she wrote herself out of the
grave. Originally published in 1974 and rediscovered forty years
later, this is the first edition of W-3 to be published in the UK.
With an original introduction by Yiyun Li, author of Where Reasons
End. 'For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to
begin-real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way . .
. At last it had dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.'
Blue in Chicago collects together the sharp, bittersweet stories of
Bette Howland and restores to our bookshelves an extraordinarily gifted
writer, who was recognized as a major talent before all but
disappearing from public view completely, until nearly the end of her
life.
Bette Howland was an outsider: an intellectual from a working-class
neighborhood in Chicago; a divorcée and single mother, to the
disapproval of her family; an artist chipped away at by poverty and
perfection. Each of these sides of her life plays a shaping role in her
work. Mining her most precarious struggles for her art in each of these
stories, she chronicles the fears and hopes of her generation.
Blue in Chicago introduces UK readers to a wry, brilliant observer and
a writer of great empathy and sly, joyous humor. Published in the US
under the title Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage.
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W-3 (Hardcover)
Bette Howland; Introduction by Yiyun Li
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R642
R480
Discovery Miles 4 800
Save R162 (25%)
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Out of stock
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'Honest, acerbic, alert, and always dazzling.' - Amitava Kumar,
author of Immigrant, Montana Things to Come and Go showcases the
incomparable talent of Bette Howland in three novellas of stunning
power, beauty, and sustaining humour. 'Birds of a Feather' is a
daughter's story of her extended, first-generation family, the
'big, brassy yak-yakking Abarbanels'. Esti, a merciless, astute
observer, recalls growing up amid (the confusions and difficulties
of) their history, quarrels, judgements, noisy love, and
inescapable bonds of blood. In 'The Old Wheeze', a single mother in
her twenties returns to her sunless apartment after a date at the
ballet. Shifting between four viewpoints - the young woman, the
older professor who took her out, her son, and her son's babysitter
- the story masterfully captures the impossibility of liberating
ourselves from the self. In 'The Life You Gave Me', a woman at the
midpoint of life is called to her father's sickbed. A lament for
all that is forever unsaid and unsayable, the story is 'an
anguished meditation on growing up, growing old and being left
behind, a complaint against time.' (The New York Times) First
published in 1984, Things to Come and Go, Bette Howland's final
book, is a collection of haunting urgency about arrivals and
departures, and the private, insoluble dramas in the lives of three
women. This edition features an introduction by Rumaan Alam,
bestselling author of Leave the World Behind. 'Stunning power and
beauty abound in this book.' - The New York Times 'Howland recalls
the short-story writer Lucia Berlin' - Harper's Magazine
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W-3 (Paperback)
Bette Howland; Introduction by Yiyun Li
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R348
Discovery Miles 3 480
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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