The Uncollected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick

Praise

“An exhilarating book of. . . adventurously chosen pieces. To me, right now, no writer feels more joyously quotable. Witty, acerbic, original, true. Maybe Coleridge, whom I haven’t read.” —Michael Hofmann, Australian Book Review

“As always, Hardwick is elegant, sharp-witted, eccentric, exacting, dreamy. . . . Her prose has an entrancing power of description, a formidable prettiness combined with razor precision.” —Katie Roiphe, The New York Times Book Review

“I cannot see The Hardwick Sentence as anything but a spiritual leap toward fuller expression. . . . When she got it right, there was a care and moral weight to her prose that few could even abut.” —Sasha Frere-Jones, 4Columns

“[Hardwick’s] stylish, gutting one-liners are present. . . . I was struck by the prescience of the collection’s strongest inclusions.” —Erin Schwartz, Vulture

“Another compendium of greatness. . . . Of the great stylists with whom she is often grouped like Sontag, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, Cynthia Ozick, Renata Adler—all of them women alive at midcentury, who lived in New York, and published both essays and fiction, or something in between—none is more strange than Hardwick.” —Zachary Fine, Los Angeles Review of Books

“Andriesse’s collection of 35 previously uncollected essays . . . is well timed. In the first piece, Hardwick writes that a ‘collection of essays is a collection of variations,’ and these pieces showcase her own range of interests. . . . This judicious gathering is a fine place to sample Hardwick’s work.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The clever observations of critic and novelist Elizabeth Hardwick shine in this sharp collection. The essays range from lyrical musings on places Hardwick lived—Kentucky, Maine, and New York—to insights on literature and thoughts on celebrities. . . . This is a rousing testament to Hardwick’s enduring vision.” —Publishers Weekly

“Elizabeth Hardwick once said that she became a writer because she loved to read. For her, language was experience, and in her essays she gave her all, no matter the occasion. She had heartbreaking discipline, an open, skeptical mind, and an unfailing beauty of voice.” —Darryl Pinckney

“Hardwick wrote when she had something to say, and she took her time; the impression of ease is owing strictly to her style. Not a poet, she produced a poet’s prose.” —Linda Hall