CONVERSATIONS WITH MARY MCCARTHY: LITERARY CONVERSATIONS SERIES

Jackson, MS: University Of Mississippi, 1991. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. Jackson, MS: University Of Mississippi, 1991. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 275 pages. The author's collection of interviews. Published in a small and limited print run of 500 copies as a hardcover original by a University Press as part of the now-legendary "Literary Conversations" Series. This First Hardcover Edition was sold to public libraries only and was never reissued. Should not be confused with the regular trade Softcover Edition. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents, in the most collectible format possible, "Conversations With Mary McCarthy". A representative selection of interviews conducted by various writers, journalists, and scholars with the author. Gives a rich, complex, and lively overview of both the life and mind of one of America's most important writers. Presented in chronological order, the interviews cumulatively amount to an absorbing account of one of the greatest literary journeys of the 20th century, which is the explicit intention of the publisher with each writer who is included in the Series. "Collected interviews with the well-known and forthright author of twenty-four books and countless reviews and essays" (Publisher's blurb) . The original "Dark Lady of American Letters", Mary McCarthy was not a feminist but was the quintessential proto-feminist. These Interviews are especially bracing and engaging because, by her own candid admission, she loved to talk, and never learned how to be discreet, much to our benefit. Her most famous quarrel was with another proto-feminist (who was, at the same time, a committed Stalinist) , the playwright Lilian Hellman, about whom McCarthy drily noted before a live television audience that everything she ever wrote or said "is a lie, including 'and' and 'the' ". It is impossible, not just difficult, to come up with a more scathing attack so Hellman sued, but died before the case could go to court. "In general I would say that men actually have more feeling, and women perhaps more intelligence" (Mary McCarthy) . An absolute "must-have" title for Mary McCarthy collectors. This title is a great collection. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. It is the single most beautiful copy we have ever seen. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are former library copies, or the Softcover Edition. A rare copy thus. One of the most important and influential American writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER MARY MCCARTHY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0878054855.