By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept - Softcover

Smart, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0679738045 ISBN 13: 9780679738046

Publisher: Vintage, 1992

Synopsis

Originally published in 1945, this book of poetic prose encapsulates former journalist Elizabeth Smart’s relationship with poet George Barker. Instantly, upon picking up a book of his poetry while browsing through a London bookshop, Smart fell in love with the poet. They would soon begin an indulgent love affair during which she gave birth to four of his children. He, however, remained legally married to his wife. This tale of passionate but fanatical love is a modern reflection of the Romantic poets. 
  Accompanied in this edition by The Assumption of the Rogues and Rascals, a short novel that may be read as its sequel, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept has been hailed by critics worldwide as a work of sheer genius.

Foreword by Brigid Brophy

About this title

From the Publisher:

'Like Madame Bovary blasted by lightening... a masterpiece' - Angela Carter

'Fresh, vivid, candid, fine ... a novel of our time.' - Cyril Connolly

'At some point every good reader comes across By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept. And he or she recognizes an emotion essential and permanent to us.' - Michael Ondaatje

'Explores a passion between a man and two women, one of them his wife - a love both despairing and triumphant upon which the reader may gaze, awed, appalled, or even, perhaps, envious.' - The Times

'Constructed as a single, sustained climax, it is like a cry of ecstasy which, without changing volume or pitch, becomes a cry of agony.' - Spectator

'A revelation ...This short, powerful work had a profound influence on rue and was one of the factors that made me want to be a writer.' - Beryl Bainbridge

'The emotion, the true and abject affliction, conics through ... to move the reader, and even to awe him.' - London Review of Books

'I doubt if there are half a dozen such masterpieces in the world.' - Brigid Brophy

About the Author:

Elizabeth Smart was born in Ottawa,Canada, in 1913. She was educated at private schools in Canada and for a year at King's College, University of London.  One day, while browsing in a London bookshop, she chanced upon a slim volume of poetry by George Barker—and fell passionately in love with him through the printed word.  Eventually they communicated directly and, as a result of Barker's impecunious circumstances, Elizabeth Smart flew both him and his wife to the United States. Thus began one of the most extraordinary, intenese and ultimately tragic love affairs of our time. They never married but Elizabeth bore George Barker four children and their relationship provided the impassioned inspiration for one of the most moving and immediate chronicles of a love affair ever writtten—By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept. Originally published in 1945, this remarkable work is now widely recognized as a classic work of poetic prose which has retained all of its searing poignancy, beauty and power of impact.
    After the war, Elizabeth Smart supported herself and her family with journalism and advertising work. In 1963 she became literary and associate editor of Queen magazine but subsequently dropped out of the literary scene to live quietly in a remote part of Suffolk.  Elizabeth Smart died in 1986.

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0679738045
• ISBN 13: 9780679738046
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240