Looking Back: A Panoramic View of a Literary Age by the Grandes Dames of European Letters

by Shusha Guppy

Gives ten portraits of the grandes dames of British letters, some of the finest novelists, essayists and biographers of the 20th century - women like Rosamond Lehmann, Juliette Huxley, Lady Diana Cooper and Molly Keane. These discussions are drawn from the interview series of "The Paris Review".

272 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1991

Reviews

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprised of ten interviews conducted in the late 1980s of a surprising collection of women in English letters, including Molly Keane, Diana Cooper and P.L. Travers, most of whom I have not read. These women were close to the end of their lives, so the interviews reveal reflections on their life and career as well as their thoughts about death. The interviews feel intimate, a rarity, I think, which makes them highly enjoyable to read. And inspires me to go to my bookshelves and the library to find some of the works mentioned. Virago Press reprinted a number of these authors.