Lucinella

by Lore Segal

Intelligence turns me on.

Lore Segal's tour de force look at the New York literary scene was a hit when it was first released in the 1970s, winning the praise of the literary elite. John Garnder called it “magical.” William Gass said it was “witty, elegant, beautiful.” Stanley Elkin called it “a shamelessly wonderful novel, so flawless one feels civilized reading it.”

It's been a cult classic ever since, and appears here in its full, original text, as fresh as ever: the story of the whimsical New York poet Lucinella and her adventures among the literati. It starts at Yaddo writers colony, where life is idyllic, meals are served to you in your rooms, and cocktails are ready at day's end … and still the writers complain and compete. Then it moves back to New York City, where the pampered once again face reality, and wonder: Will a different husband … or the right publisher … or the perfect filing system … put life in order?

Lucinella and her circle feel lacking and keep looking, busily going to parties and watching one another 's lives closely for signs of happiness, love and despair.
Segal depicts it all with a perfect blend of love and malice. And at the center is Lucinella herself, so full of humanity and frailty that these divertissements do her to death. “Here,” as Cynthia Ozick says, “is the enchanted microcosm, the laughter of mortality.”

The Contemporary Art of the Novella series is designed to highlight work by major authors from around the world. In most instances, as with Imre Kertész, it showcases work never before published; in others, books are reprised that should never have gone out of print. It is intended that the series feature many well-known authors and some exciting new discoveries. And as with the original series, The Art of the Novella, each book is a beautifully packaged and inexpensive volume meant to celebrate the form and its practitioners.

Genres: Fiction, Novella, Short Stories, Literature, Novels, New York, Modern

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Lore Vailer Segal was an Austrian-American novelist, translator, teacher, short story writer, and author of children's books. Her novel Shakespeare's Kitchen was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2008.

Reviews

[Mateusz Woliński · Rating 4 out of 5]

To aż dziwne, że na pojawienie się takiej książeczki musieliśmy czekać ponad 40 lat.

Nie sposób odmówić uroku tej książce. Segal zabiera nas do świata nowojorskich pisarzy i krytyków. Poznajmy ich w mitycznej kolonii Yaddo, która oferowała rezydencje artystom, a wśród nich aż 66 laureatom Pulitzera, 61 National Book Award… i tak można długo. Sielskie miejsce przesiąknięte sztuką i literaturą, gdzie posiłki podane są na stół, zapas wina w piwnicy uzupełniony i niczym nie trzeba się przejmować.

Odwiedzamy różne mieszania i imprezy, które przesiąknięte są literaturą i stanowią nieodłączony element życia. Brzmi jak naiwna nowela? Nic z tego. Lucinella mimo, że przedstawia świat pozujący na bohemę nie szczędzi mu uszczypliwości. Podskórnie można wyczuć zajadłą krytykę klasistowskiego i hermetycznego środowiska.

Mimo dziwnej formy, swoistej kroniki lapidarnie opisanych wypadków, Segal udaje się wypełnić ją meta narracją. Jest to powieść o pisaniu. O poszukiwaniu głębi i otwieraniu znaczeń. Od naiwnych i prostych rytuałów jak równo naostrzone ołówki i nowy notes, bo głębsze refleksje o literaturze samej w sobie, jej celach i sposobach ich realizacji.

Segal pisze krypto i meta cytatami. Jej język jest żywy i świeży. Przeczytajcie, a może to będzie kolejna ulubiona książka?

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A highly stylized short novel that focuses and satirizes the behavior of a group of NYC based writers and poets living within their artistic bubble. Sly, irreverent and enjoyable.

[Arnie Kahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the funniest books I’ve read, clever, and silly and true. It’s kind of a post-modern satire written in the early 1970s about a group of poets, novelists, critics, and publishers who know one another, go to the same writer’s retreats and parties. The group not only includes Lucinella, who narrates the novella, but a young Lucinella and an old Lucinella and a couple of Greek gods. Almost every other sentence is a marvel. At the end, when Lucinella is being buried she thinks, “Keep the casket closed; no open casket, my nose is too long. And let there be Bach. They may mention god as long as it’s in Hebrew. See if you can stop the rabbi from speaking English unless he is a poet, which isn’t probable.”

[Susan Messer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange little find--a novella (you don't see many of those on bookstore shelves these days). Pure Segal--a little surreal, a little odd, about a group of poets, all hungry for praise and attention. I adore her clever savvy about that need for acknowledgment and approval among writers, the darkness that hovers when they don't get it.

[wi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Namiętności awangardy oplatające dłonie, myśli i oczy jak naszyjnik z pereł. Szlachetne, pociągające na tyle, że chcesz trzymać je blisko przy ciele…

Lore Segal rozkosznie prowadzi nas po przyjęciach grona poetów, daje wgląd w wymuskane intrygi oraz romanse. Oblewa nas gorzką rozpaczą, nieustannym poszukiwaniem siebie, zrozumienia miłości oraz bliskich ludzi. Wprowadza nas na szczyty Olimpu, po czym zabiera na dno. Fantazjuje, bawi się słowem i czerpie (wątpliwą?) przyjemność z pisania. Rozbiera bohaterów do naga, zostawiając imiona, jak papierki po zjedzonych cukierkach. Trzeba ich skosztować kilka razy, jednak jestem pewna, że za każdym kolejny przyniesie nam najwięcej rozkoszy. Sama autorka pobudza nasz apetyt na zjedzoną już prozę, kradnąc gryzy zakończenia. Mimo tego, nie jestem po nim nienajedzona.

Z pewnością posmakuje tej książki jeszcze nie jeden raz.

[Peter Tillman]

Per James Marcus at the Atlantic, "a madcap 1976 novella that somehow mingles the literary life with Greek mythology: Zeus turns up at Yaddo, the prestigious artists’ colony, in a notably priapic mood."
https://www.theatlantic.com/books/arc...

[Natalia Gaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Och jak wspaniale sie bawiłam. Ta ksiazka była jak wielkie zaczerpnięcie tchu, po ostatnim fatalnym czytelniczo miesiącu przyszedł czas na ukojenie. Fantastyczna satyra pełna trafnych spostrzeżeń, ale także wniosków pięknych jak samo życie. Niesamowicie ciekawa forma, krótka i szalenie angażująca.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I continue to find myself judging writers based on how I feel about their protagonist, and, particularly, if they (the writers, that is) are being too gracious to them (the protagonists). Such is definitely the case in Lucinella. There are some interesting passages, and Segal's prose is whimsical, if a little precious when she breaks the fourth wall (or whatever you'd call it in literature). But Lucinella is a disaster, and not in the great Ignatius Reilly way. She's frivolous in her craft, self-absorbed in her petty anxieties, indiscreet, disloyal, and trite. Her younger version has hope, which her middle-age and real-time version scorns. Thank goodness her future version can't seem to remember, or at least communicate, her thoughts on how she wound up.

[Tex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read like I was being left out of a joke.

[delilah · Rating 2 out of 5]

"wyraźnie jest to opowieść o pisaniu; mniej wyraźne jest to, co się pisze"

o ile koncept, był dość ciekawy, tak przez nieco ponad 200-stronicową treść ledwo przebrnęłam
ta książka ma właściwie tylko dwa plusy:
- elementy mitologiczne
- satyra z grup poetyckich
oprócz tego jest nudna, chaotycznie napisana, bohaterów ciężko lubić, bo nie są charakterystyczni, nie czuć klimatu lat 70. i podczas czytania ma się wrażenie, że co chwilę czyta się dygresję
gdyby nie to, że jest taka krótka, nie doczytałabym do końca


while the concept was quite interesting, i could barely get through the content of just over 200 pages
this book actually has only two pluses:
- mythological elements
- satire from poetic groups
apart from that, it is boring, chaotically written, the characters are hard to like because they are uncharacteristic, you don't feel the atmosphere of the 1970s and while reading you have the impression that every now and then you read a digression
if it wasn't for the fact that it was so short, I wouldn't have finished it

[Brian Grover · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say, I didn't give this book a fair shot, I started and stopped it several times - and it's a novella, which makes that approach particularly ridiculous. This book was published in the early 1970s, it's the story of a New York City poet as she bounces back and forth between the Yaddo writers' colony and the city, and chronicles her adventures among the literati.

It's extremely bizarre, and not always interesting, but some of the writing is absolutely phenomenal, and she's an extremely likeable protagonist. Honestly, I should probably read this again, and maybe some day I will. Three and a half stars.

[leukonoe]

„dekada, w którą ja wczepiam się pazurami tak, że aż nogi powiewają za mną poziomo w powietrzu, jest dla niej pełną przeciągów poczekalnią bez zegara, kiedy nie ma się pewności, czy pociągi w ogóle kursują”

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

reading this was The Great Orgasm. now that i’ve finished, i can get fucked, and stay fucked once and for all.

i really, really enjoyed. it was hilarious, irreverent, and fun and i loved how it delved into surrealism. lucinella, you are crazy

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absurdist and elitist in a gallivanting way. Witty. Lucinella’s soft lean into age, into losing her words (her poetry, her talent, from aphasia), her death, and losing touch and sight of her world is very moving.

[Jakub Szestowicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[rndgmoat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book but, at some point, it just lost me. It is short enough to read in a day so maybe I will give it another shot at some other point...

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tried to read it, didn’t finish. Disappointing because I loved Her First American

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a TRIP.

[Yashoda Sampath · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is wild and I loved it!!

[Kara Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

V enjoyable. The surrealism in second half was great addition to emotive narration.

[Izzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic incredible I love you Lore Segal

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really did not understand the appeal or the praise that has been heaped upon this strange little novella. Felt messy, boring, and not very funny

[Anielka‧₊˚✩彡 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Hailey Skinner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had no idea what was happening for some portions of this book but that's okay because i loved the middle & there were plenty of funny parts to keep me going.

I thought this quote was cute:

"I'm always particularly fond of my friends when they're walking in my front door. It seems nice and a little ridiculous of them to leave their comfortable homes and come and stand in my living room. They hold their drinks. They turn their good, intelligent faces to one another and move their jaws up and down. Listen to the pleasant hiss and hum of innumerable conversations."

[Jeremy Hornik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going a little crazy for Lore Segal right now. This is a sort of memoir, like all her books, and sort of a magical realist thing, and sort of a satire on the literary life. What she does is make these wonderful characters, full of emotions and needs, and moves them along at a pace that is completely unforced and natural. And they have the neat trick of being both unpredictable (you don't know what they'll do next) and sympathetic (you believe what they do, and empathize with them for doing it.)

Anyhow, this is the story of Lucinella, a poet. She meets a variety of other literary types: a boyfriend, younger and older versions of herself (both called Lucinella), celebrated old poets, adolescent young poets, Russian poets, black poets, little magazine publishers, critics, and a pair of Greek gods. She meets them at retreats, and parties, and symposiums, and more parties. It's a bit precious, spelled out like that, and I don't imagine it's for everyone. But in the reading, it feels like the story of a life both deeply questioned and deeply felt, even at its most ambiguous.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this novella (primarily the bits with Zeus) didn't really hold my interest, and I admittedly skimmed the last 30 pages, but there were some terrific set pieces that make this a worthwhile read. I could call this a scathing take-down of the insular world of literary figures, but Segal clearly has affection for all of them.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty great. really funny and super dense. if you read more than two sentences and don't find anything clever, funny, or playful go back and you'll find something every time. (happened to me about every other page.) reminded me a little of my favorite book of the zeroes, mary robison's "why did i ever."

[Meredith Kadet Sanderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it twice! It was charming, smart and sad both times.

[Elizabeth Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely and utterly wonderful. Shockingly of-the-moment, considering that it's 30 yrs old... READ THIS NOW!

[Isaac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly one of the funnier, odder, denser, slim little books I've read in a while. I've really enjoyed this series of novellas and aim to read them all.