CONTENTS

Cover

Biographical Notes

Other Books by Elizabeth Hardwick

Copyright and More Information

Introduction

The Art of the Essay

PLACES, PEOPLE, THINGS

New York City: Crash Course

Lexington, Kentucky

Puritanical Pleasures

The émigré

Balanchine

Faye Dunaway

Knowing Sontag

Katherine Anne

Things

PIETY AND POLITICS

Elections

Mr. America

Piety and Politics

The Kennedy Scandals

The Menendez Show

Family Values

Head Over Heels

On Behalf of the Unborn

FEMININE PRINCIPLE

The American Woman as Snow Queen

The Feminine Principle

Women Re Women

The Ties Women Cannot Shake, and Have

Is the “Equal” Woman More Vulnerable?

Suicide and Women

When to Cast Out, Give Up, Let Go

READINGS

On Reading the Writings of Women

Reading

Southern Literature: The Cultural Assumptions of Regionalism

MUSINGS

Basic Englishing

Parsifal

The Eternal Heartbreak

The Heart of the Seasons

Notes on Leonardo and the Future of the Past

Grits Soufflé

Christmas Past

Acknowledgments

Sources