The Princess of 72nd Street - by Elaine Kraf

About the Book

"Ellen has two lives. A single artist living alone on New York's Upper West Side in the 1970s, she periodically descends into episodes of what she calls "radiances." While under the influence of the radiance, she becomes Princess Esmeralda, and West 72nd Street becomes the kingdom over which she rules. Life as Esmeralda is a colorful, glorious, and liberating experience for Ellen, who, despite the chaos and stigma these episodes can bring, relishes the respite from the confines of the everyday. And yet those around her, particularly the men in her life, are threatened by her incarnation as Esmeralda, and by the freedom that it gives her."--

Book Synopsis

"That rare thing: a true underappreciated classic" (The New Yorker), about a smart and sensitive yet deeply troubled young woman fighting to live on her own terms

"Provocative . . . Almost half a century after it was first published, The Princess of 72nd Street sounds like a contemporary cry for freedom from the expectations of others."--The Atlantic

"Kraf's groovy, glimmering novel . . . deserves to be read--not for the nitty-gritty New York of it all but for her wry, confiding voice, which is funny, disarming and frequently ruthless."--The New York Times

I am glad I have the radiance. This time I am wiser. No one will know. . . . The radiance drifts blue circles around my head. If I wanted to I could float up and through them. I am weightless. My brain is cool like rippling waves. Conflict does not exist. For a moment I cannot see--the lights are large orange flowers.

Ellen has two lives. A single artist living alone on New York's Upper West Side in the 1970s, she periodically descends into episodes of what she calls "radiances." While under the influence of the radiance, she becomes Princess Esmeralda, and West 72nd Street becomes the kingdom over which she rules. Life as Esmeralda is a colorful, glorious, and liberating experience for Ellen, who, despite the chaos and stigma these episodes can bring, relishes the respite from the confines of the everyday. And yet those around her, particularly the men in her life, are threatened by her incarnation as Esmeralda, and by the freedom that it gives her.

In what would turn out to be her final published work, Elaine Kraf tackles mental health and female agency in this utterly original, witty, and inventive novel. Provocative at the time of its publication in 1979 and thoroughly iconoclastic, The Princess of 72nd Street is a remarkable portrait of an unforgettable woman.

Review Quotes

"Like Renata Adler's Speedboat, Elizabeth Hardwick's Sleepless Nights, Simone de Beauvoir's The Woman Destroyed or Iris Owens's After Claude, [The Princess of 72nd Street] is a slender, accomplished and frequently funny work told from the perspective of a lively and bruised female consciousness."--The Washington Post

"Elaine Kraf's The Princess of 72nd Street lyrically details the seventh 'radiance' experienced by a young figure painter named Ellen who . . . makes witty observations about creativity, femininity, and public life with a voice that feels startlingly modern."--NYLON

"Irresistibly intriguing . . . [The Princess of 72nd Street] is bold, beautiful, challenging and charming."--The Guardian

"At the novel's crux is the tension between freedom and autonomy . . . [Kraf] fits right into the [Torchbearers] series' mission."--TLS

"[A] prismatic take on female agency and mental health . . . We're finally catching up with [Kraf's] pioneering mind. . . . What's more, as the world lurches further to the far-right, Kraf's third eye on female liberation makes her writing as vital as ever."--The Quietus

"This slender novel immerses us in the brilliance of its world so we feel as far from madness as its protagonist does."--Financial Times

"It's hard for me to believe I only just read this book for the first time this winter. And I'm happy for everyone else that it's getting reissued this year. I love the way Kraf writes, she jams so much into her sentences."--Sophie Kemp, Document

"A raggedy genius is finally queened, bringing a fairy-tale ending to this cracked, dark story of the old West Side."--Joshua Cohen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author

"When a novelist tells a good story well, it becomes a good novel. When a novelist uses words as if they were sacred love, what is written becomes poetry. Elaine Kraf is a poet."--The New York Times Book Review

"A frenetic and glittering manifesto, wherein a woman wrestles--or dances--with the most misunderstood parts of herself . . . a well-deserved reintroduction of what is bound to be a beloved classic for contemporary young women."--Olivia Gatwood, author of Whoever You Are, Honey

"Kraf writes . . . about the habits of madness without trivializing the grimness and pain."--The Village Voice

"It is one of the marvels of this book that Elaine Kraf manages to be so recklessly fantastical and so coolly perceptive at the same time."--Jen Silverman, author of There's Going to Be Trouble

"There are astonishingly affecting contrasts of the sordid and sad, the detached and misaligned. The Princess of 72nd Street is a serious, important piece of contemporary fiction."--Booklist

"An electric portrait of one woman's blazing unraveling."--Sarah Rose Etter, author of Ripe

About the Author

Elaine Kraf (1936-2013) was a writer and painter. She was the author of four published works of fiction--I Am Clarence (1969), The House of Madelaine (1971), Find Him! (1977), and The Princess of 72nd Street (1979)--as well as several unpublished novels, plays, and poetry collections. Kraf was the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts awards, a 1971 fellowship at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and a 1977 residency at Yaddo. She was born and lived in New York City.