Prancing Novelist - (Dalkey Archive Scholarly) by Brigid Brophy (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

One of the most penetrating and sympathetic explorations ever undertaken by one writer into the mind of another, Prancing Novelist is far more than a simple tribute or work of research. In these pages--by turns instructive, mischievous, and even gossipy--Brigid Brophy seeks nothing less than a vindication of the eternal liveliness of fiction itself against the persistent rumors that it is dying or dead. Though serious in intent, Prancing Novelist is not only a monument to Firbank, but is also a delightful showcase for Brophy's own uproarious prose, not to mention her genius for telling good stories.

Review Quotes

Atheist, vegetarian, socialist; novelist and short-story writer; humanist; biographer; playwright... most loyal of friends; reverer of Jane Austen; lover of Italy; Mozart adorer... smoker of cigarettes in a chic holder and painter of her fingernails purple; mother, grandmother, wife; feminist; lover of men and women; Brigid Brophy was above all an intellectual, which British (although she was Irish) authors aren't supposed to be.--Giles Gorden "The Independent "

One of the strangest and wittiest British writers of the past half century...--Terry Castle

About the Author

Novelist, biographer, and critic Brigid Brophy wrote nine works of fiction, including "The King of a Rainy Country" and "In Transit." She also wrote a number of works of nonfiction, which included books on Aubrey Beardsley and Mozart, as well as the infamous "Fifty Works of English Literature We Could Do Without."