On the Contrary: Articles of Belief, 1946-1961

by Mary McCarthy

Near Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 2nd printing bound in gray cloth. A Fine copy in nice dj.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

People note American writer Mary Therese McCarthy for her sharp literary criticism and satirical fiction, including the novels The Groves of Academe (1952) and The Group (1963).

McCarthy studied at Vassar college in Poughkeepsie, New York and graduated in 1933. McCarthy moved to city of New York and incisively wrote as a known contributor to publications such as the Nation, the New Republic, and the New York Review of Books. Her debut novel, The Company She Keeps (1942), initiated her ascent to the most celebrated writers of her generation; the publication of her autobiography Memories of a Catholic Girlhood in 1957 bolstered this reputation.

This literary critic authored more than two dozen books, including the now-classic novel The Group , the New York Times bestseller in 1963.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_McC...

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is it about mid-century American essays that gives one that not-so-fresh feeling?

McCarthy is a good enough writer, but these pieces from the 40s, 50s and 60s feel grievously stale, I guess because her topics are so of the moment: Communists and fellow-travelers, "the Vassar girl," beauty magazines, Arthur Miller. Anything from the 19th century would feel more relevant.

There are two different pieces dealing with an encounter McCarthy had with a slightly anti-Semitic Colonel on a train. The first is the original piece which ran in Harpers; the second addresses how people were confused and thought it was fiction, and wanted the symbolism explained to them. This is at least one too many essays about McCarthy and the Colonel.

The book is divided into three sections, "Politics and the Social Scene," "Woman" (quite awful), and "Literature and the Arts." In the last, two essays, "The Fact in Fiction" and "Characters in Fiction" are worth reading, faute de mieux.

[Isildur]

MM kinda cool as hell

[Paul Hoehn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very uneven book—some of these pieces feel strange at a distance of six decades, others just off base (were we reading the same Human Condition?), but the autobiographical snippet “Artists in Uniform” and the notes on literature it is used as a pretext to introduce are out of this world. I wish I would have known them back when I was teaching reading and composition courses at Berkeley. So much of what is in those chapters represent so compactly the main points I found lacking in my undergraduates’ understanding of literature. Disheartening to see the students of literature still groping in the dark, but encouraging to see that the literary world itself extricated itself from some of the midcentury dead ends that McCarthy describes.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays by the intelligent and acerbic McCarthy. I preferred her memoirs and her fiction to these randomly posted columns, Still she writes and thinks with polish and verve