Does this mean I have to be /me/ for all eternity?
January 24, 2016 4:32 AM   Subscribe

A Visit, by Bette Howland.

The magazine A Public Space recently compiled some of the work of Bette Howland after finding her memoir W-3 in an outlet bookstore and thinking it had gone rather unrecognized, despite three books and a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship. So they tried to track her down.
posted by solarion (6 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is somewhat scant - much of the magazine online is paywalled, and I altogether respect their efforts too much in this to go around that or I would link more.
posted by solarion at 4:34 AM on January 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


Actually, from lithub link, there's a link to an article in Commentary Magazine, which links to six of her essays published in Commentary (at the bottom of the article). I got a couple of popups covering some text, but when I dismiss them, can read the full pieces.

The linked essays are: Public Facilities A Memoir (February 1972), Blue in Chicago (August 1972), To the Country (November 1973), Golden Age (April 1975), The Life You Gave Me (August 1982), and The Escape Artist (May 2006).

(if you run into a paywall after the "5 free articles," try opening in an incognito / private browsing window)
posted by taz at 7:01 AM on January 24, 2016 [4 favorites]


loved this. thanks for posting it!
posted by CMcG at 7:13 AM on January 24, 2016


Thanks so much for this. A fascinating writer, and her family history is compelling.

I know reductivism isn't attractive, but I'm guessing that sexism had a lot to do with why she wasn't pursued. Plenty of reclusive and depressed writers are well-known, after all. They tend not to be women.
posted by allthinky at 8:34 AM on January 24, 2016 [2 favorites]


Dreamy.
posted by Oyéah at 9:32 AM on January 24, 2016


Those piqued by the first linked story, The Visit, may also enjoy:

The Third Policeman
by Flann O'Brien (1939; first published in 1960)
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Siesta (1987)
posted by 0rison at 8:43 PM on January 24, 2016


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