Contents

List of illustrations

Introduction

1. The secret of my life: Joseph Conrad

2. A straight dive into the past: Henry James

3. For facts a most profound contempt: Ford Madox Ford

4. The life apart: Edith Wharton

5. Alive and kicking: H. G. Wells

6. You are never yourself to yourself: Gertrude Stein

7. My life being so difficult a one to live: Wyndham Lewis

Epilogue

Notes

Acknowledgments

Select bibliography

Index