Sleepless Nights
New York: Random House, 1979. 1st Edition. Octavo, publisher’s maroon cloth, spine and upper board stamped in silver, blush endpapers, original illustrated dust jacket.
"Now, my novel begins. No, now I begin my novel—and yet I cannot decide whether to call myself I or she." First edition of Elizabeth Hardwick’s best known work, the copy of Sue Leonard, literary editor for the Nation magazine, and wife of book review and cultural critic John Leonard. Born a society belle in Kentucky, Hardwick became a major figure in the New York intellectual circle of the mid-to-late 20th century, known for her fierce intelligence and scathing skepticism. She was married for a period to the poet Robert Lowell, but was an experimental writer in her own right, writing for Partisan Review and, during the newspaper strike of 1963, assisting Jason and Barbara Epstein in the founding of the New York Review of Books, where she was a frequent contributor. Deliberately complicating the tropes of confessionalism, the largely autobiographical avant la lettre novel was written when Hardwick was 63 years old, and is a kaleidoscopic assemblage of memories, reflections, meditations, and associations culled from the course of her life. With Leonard's ownership signature ("Leonard") to front endpaper, and her extensive underlinings, marginal checkmarks, asterisks and brackets in an editor's red ink, and with many pages dog-eared. Dust jacket designed by R.D. Scudellari; author photo by Thomas Victor, known to be Susan Sontag's favorite portrait photographer. Stated first edition on the copyright page, with 2 the lowest number in number row, indicating first printing per the publisher's custom from 1976 onwards. Unclipped dust jacket with light edgewear, toning and small closed tear to upper panel. A well-read copy with a fine literary New York association. Item #6466
$250.00