Completists' Club discussion

Novels

The Apple of the Eye (1924)
The Grandmothers (1927)
The Babe's Bed (1930)
The Pilgrim Hawk: A Love Story (1940)
Apartment in Athens (1945)

Short Stories

Good-bye, Wisconsin (1928)
"A Visit to Priapus", written in 1938, published in 2003 in The New Penguin Book of Gay Short Stories

Poetry

The Bitterns: A Book of Twelve Poems (1920)

Nonfiction

A Calendar of Saints for Unbelievers (1932)
Fear and Trembling (1932)
Images of Truth: Remembrances and Criticism (1962)
The Best of All Possible Worlds: Journals, Letters, and Remembrances, 1914-1937 (1975)
Continual Lessons : The Journals of Glenway Wescott, 1937-1955 (1990)

?

Like a Lover (1926)

I know nothing about this writer. What should one start with?

Pilgrim Hawk and Apartment in Athens are both in pretty, NYRB editions, so people probably read those first. Probably most people read Pilgrim Hawk, a novella, first. It is widely critically acclaimed. Apartment in Athens is a major downer.

I've only read these two and The Grandmothers thus far. The Grandmothers really moved me and is my favorite of the three. It's very autobiographical (though a novel) and the storytelling and writing is lovely. Interestingly, these three are quite different in tone. The Grandmothers is very deeply American, rooted in midwestern soils and personalities; Pilgrim Hawk takes place outside Paris and has a much more cosmopolitan feel.

okay, thanks. The Grandmothers sounds great.

Here's my 5-star review of The Grandmothers. I am an evangelist for it.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

thanks!

surprised I hadn't come across him til now.

He's quite obscure. I don't think anyone would know about him if it weren't for those NYRB editions.

true. (but I specialize in obscure writers! particularly women tho).