{"title":"Elaine Kraf","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"princess-of-72nd-street-book-elaine-kraf-9780593731802","title":"The Princess of 72nd Street","description":"\u003cb\u003eA provocative and thoroughly feminist \"cult classic\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e) about a smart, sensitive, yet deeply troubled young woman fighting to live on her own terms.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eI am glad I have the radiance. This time I am wiser. No one will know... The radiance drifts blue circles around my head. If I wanted to I could float up and through them. I am weightless. My brain is cool like rippling waves. Conflict does not exist. For a moment I cannot see-the lights are large orange flowers.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Ellen has two lives. A single artist living alone on New York's Upper West Side in the 1970s, she periodically descends into episodes she describes as \"radiances.\" While under the influence of the radiance, she becomes Princess Esmeralda, and West 72nd Street the kingdom over which she rules. Life as Esmeralda is a colourful, glorious, liberating experience for Ellen, and despite the chaos and stigma these episodes can bring, she relishes the respite from the confines of the everyday. And yet those around her, particularly the men in her life, are threatened by her incarnation as Esmeralda and the freedom it gives her.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In what would turn to be her final published work, originally released in 1979, Elaine Kraf tackles a dark and disturbing subject in an utterly original, witty, and inventive manner. Provocative at the time of its publication and thoroughly iconoclastic, \u003ci\u003eThe Princess of 72nd Street\u003c\/i\u003e is a remarkable portrait of an unforgettable woman.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50280834859281,"sku":"CIN0593731808G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51004445557009,"sku":"NIN9780593731802","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0593731808.jpg?v=1751104400"},{"product_id":"princess-of-72nd-street-book-elaine-kraf-9780593731826","title":"The Princess of 72nd Street","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"That rare thing: a true underappreciated classic\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e), about a smart and sensitive yet deeply troubled young woman fighting to live on her own terms\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\"Provocative . . . Almost half a century after it was first published, \u003ci\u003eThe Princess of 72nd Street\u003c\/i\u003e sounds like a contemporary cry for freedom from the expectations of others.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\"Kraf's groovy, glimmering novel . . . deserves to be read--not for the nitty-gritty New York of it all but for her wry, confiding voice, which is funny, disarming and frequently ruthless.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eI am glad I have the radiance. This time I am wiser. No one will know. . . . The radiance drifts blue circles around my head. If I wanted to I could float up and through them. I am weightless. My brain is cool like rippling waves. Conflict does not exist. For a moment I cannot see--the lights are large orange flowers.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Ellen has two lives. A single artist living alone on New York's Upper West Side in the 1970s, she periodically descends into episodes of what she calls \"radiances.\" While under the influence of the radiance, she becomes Princess Esmeralda, and West 72nd Street becomes the kingdom over which she rules. Life as Esmeralda is a colorful, glorious, and liberating experience for Ellen, who, despite the chaos and stigma these episodes can bring, relishes the respite from the confines of the everyday. And yet those around her, particularly the men in her life, are threatened by her incarnation as Esmeralda, and by the freedom that it gives her.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In what would turn out to be her final published work, Elaine Kraf tackles mental health and female agency in this utterly original, witty, and inventive novel. Provocative at the time of its publication in 1979 and thoroughly iconoclastic, \u003ci\u003eThe Princess of 72nd Street\u003c\/i\u003e is a remarkable portrait of an unforgettable woman.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50446977958161,"sku":"CIN0593731824G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51004430090513,"sku":"NIN9780593731826","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51127560896785,"sku":"CIN0593731824VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0593731824.jpg?v=1751073673"},{"product_id":"princess-of-72nd-street-book-elaine-kraf-9780241715277","title":"The Princess of 72nd Street","description":"‘A cult classic … A high and a comedown at once – a paroxysm of sex and booze and, above all, colour … wryly funny … it is also devastating’ The New Yorker  An unforgettable portrait of a smart, sensitive, yet deeply troubled young woman fighting to live on her own terms  ‘I don’t need LSD for things to look pretty.’  Ellen is an artist living alone on New York in the 1970s. She is beset by irritating ex-boyfriends, paint pigment choices, and, occasionally, by ‘radiances’ – episodes of joyous, reckless unreality during which she becomes Princess Esmerelda, a brightly-dressed star ruling over her kingdom of West 72nd Street. Yet there are those around her, particularly the men in her life, who are threatened by this incarnation, and wish to curtail the giddy freedom it brings her. A rhapsodic work of exuberant invention and deadpan humour, The Princess of 72nd Street sees female liberation and mental health through new eyes.  With an Introduction by Melissa Broder  ‘One of literature’s hidden gems … demands a place on your bookshelf right next to Plath and Ditlevsen’ Sarah Rose Etter","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":50886808207633,"sku":"NGR9780241715277","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51381784379665,"sku":"GOR014248995","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52462598422801,"sku":"NLS9780241715277","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52705222295825,"sku":"GOR014588551","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53121449099537,"sku":"GOR014754180","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53266956124433,"sku":"CIN024171527XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/024171527X.jpg?v=1769688537"},{"product_id":"i-am-clarence-book-elaine-kraf-9780241766859","title":"I Am Clarence","description":"A haunting novel exploring a mother’s fierce love for her disabled son as she grapples with her own mental health, by the author of the feminist cult classic The Princess of 72nd Street  ‘Funny, disarming and frequently ruthless’ The New York Times  Clarence cannot see very well. He has seizures. He knows the word ‘tangerine’ but has forgotten the word ‘Mommy’. For Clarence’s mother, life revolves around her young son; she takes him to see specialists, protects him from the cruelty of other children, loves him fiercely. But she has her own struggles. Her sanity is precarious and fractured. When her mental health reaches breaking point, she is forced to decide between Clarence’s well-being and her own.  Told through bright fragments of memories, I Am Clarence is a piercing journey into one woman’s mind, which asks, how much can a mother sacrifice for her child, and survive?  With an introduction by Sarah Manguso.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51596951781649,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51596952174865,"sku":"NGR9780241766859","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52684392136977,"sku":"NLS9780241766859","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52733969596689,"sku":"GOR014604936","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52737607434513,"sku":"GOR014605803","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0241766850.jpg?v=1769688773"},{"product_id":"house-of-madelaine-book-elaine-kraf-9780593731888","title":"The House of Madelaine","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the cult-favorite feminist author of \u003ci\u003eThe Princess of 72nd Street\u003c\/i\u003e, a classic novel about a captive woman who must use unorthodox methods to reclaim her fractured mind\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe dimensions of this house have already shaped your response. Did you think you could hide forever from the violence inside you?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e This fever dream of a novel features a protagonist who shares the same name as its author. Elaine first entered the house as moral support for her friend and fellow schoolteacher, Florence, but now there are no exits in sight. All the inexplicable residents of the space--Florence's beguiling brother, her inattentive lover, distant mother, wizard father, and even her and Elaine's school principal--are under the control of the mysterious Madelaine. Elaine knows that Madelaine is out to get her, she just doesn't know who is colluding with Madelaine as she forces Elaine to commit harmful, evil tasks. As Elaine attempts to regain agency, she begins to remember glimpses from her painful past with her gynecologist husband, causing her to question exactly who and what is binding her in place.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe House of Madelaine\u003c\/i\u003e reveals the frenzied mind of a broken poet trying to put herself together again. As Elaine reckons with countless uncanny challenges all taking place under one roof, she begins to rediscover who she truly is.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51630057357585,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51630057586961,"sku":"NGR9780593731888","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51800037392657,"sku":"NIN9780593731888","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ LIKE_NEW \/ SBYB","offer_id":52879492350225,"sku":"CIN0593731883LN","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52879492907281,"sku":"CIN0593731883VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53480918253841,"sku":"GOR014941560","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0593731883.jpg?v=1769683223"},{"product_id":"i-am-clarence-book-elaine-kraf-9780593731857","title":"I Am Clarence","description":"\u003cb\u003eA haunting novel exploring a mother's fierce love for her disabled son as she grapples with her own mental health, by the author of the feminist cult classic \u003ci\u003eThe Princess of 72nd Street\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eAccording to Dr. Hovenclock, health meant wanting things. What would I have to pretend to want before he would let me leave? I longed to return to Clarence.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e For Clarence's mother, life revolves around her young son; she takes him to see specialists to find the cause of his blindness and developmental delays, protects him from the cruelty of other children, and loves him tenderly. But she has her own struggles too. Her sanity is precarious and fractured, making caregiving increasingly difficult.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e When her mental health reaches a breaking point, she checks herself into an institution so that she can get better and, she tells herself, be a better mother to Clarence. As she is forced to decide between his well-being and hers, Elaine Kraf poses the essential question- Can a mother's love for her child soothe her own emotional upheaval? How much can she sacrifice for her son?\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Through this unforgettable journey into one woman's mind and relationships, Kraf paints a harrowing portrait of motherhood which remains timely and inventive over fifty years after its initial publication.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51630123712785,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51630123876625,"sku":"NGR9780593731857","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52565493055761,"sku":"NIN9780593731857","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0593731859.jpg?v=1769682813"},{"product_id":"find-him-book-elaine-kraf-9780593731918","title":"Find Him!","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn uncanny novel which provides keen insight on patriarchal violence and female identity by the author of feminist cult classic \u003ci\u003eThe Princess of 72nd Street\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eWith an introduction by Violet Kupersmith\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eUnderstand my beginning with Oliver. You will see that my love for him is not a romantic fantasy. Every bit of this love was formed from the reality of primary needs--ingestion, excretion, simple pleasure and pain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Our narrator's name and origins are unknown, but she claims to be from \"another star.\" Though she arrived as a fully grown woman, she did not yet have the ability to speak or look after herself. She lives with Oliver, who serves as both her caregiver and her captor and keeps the two of them in isolation from the rest of the world. Though she has no freedom, she insists that he did his best to protect her, to develop her into something more than she was.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Now she blends into our society, though she is still different at heart. The problem is, she can't find Oliver. She goes back to their beginning to examine her relationship with him, a strange mix of father, lover, abuser, teacher.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e And then there is the question of Edith, a mysterious woman whose absence seems to haunt them both.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Originally published in 1977 and seemingly woven from the fragments of nightmares and fantasies, \u003ci\u003eFind Him!\u003c\/i\u003e is a paragon of Elaine Kraf's iconoclastic style, challenging and captivating in equal measure.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eThe Modern Library Torchbearers Series features women who wrote on their own terms, with boldness, creativity, and a spirit of resistance.\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51799036887313,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51799037182225,"sku":"NGR9780593731918","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52627719323921,"sku":"NIN9780593731918","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53393852793105,"sku":"CIN0593731913G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780593731918.jpg?v=1769686660"},{"product_id":"princess-of-72nd-street-book-elaine-kraf-9781564782359","title":"Princess of 72nd Street","description":"This remarkable novel by Elaine Kraf received almost no attention when it was first published in 1979. For whatever reasons, America was not ready for this dream-like look at life inside the head of a young woman, a struggling artist, living in New York's Upper West Side and coping with the ravages of manic-depression.Not only did Kraf take on a dark and disturbing subject, she did so in an utterly original, witty, and inventive manner--a provocative move, even in the liberated culture of the 1970s. And, while others have since expanded upon the territory that Kraf was mining, one still has to go as far back as the early down-and-out-in-Paris novels of Jean Rhys to find a writer who so boldly and honestly portrays a smart, sardonic, attractive, but deeply troubled woman fighting to survive on her own in the city.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52398676410641,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52398676672785,"sku":"CIN1564782352G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781564782359.jpg?v=1758727712"},{"product_id":"memory-house-book-elaine-kraf-9798217153749","title":"Memory House","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe never-before-published novel by cult feminist author Elaine Kraf, exploring what happens when a drained writer fakes her death and joins a mysterious club for failing artists\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Once the darling of the literary world, Marlane Frack is fading into obscurity: her once-brilliant career seems over, her creativity feels nonexistent, and her demanding husband would prefer she spend her time caring for him instead of struggling to find inspiration. But one day, an enigmatic chauffeur arrives to spirit her away to Memory House, a secluded sanctuary where formerly successful artists of all kinds--writers, painters, musicians, and more--are spending the rest of their lives. They have all decided that fame in death is preferable to decline in real life.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Nestled in a remote, picturesque landscape, the house is a labyrinth of secrets and whispers, where time seems to flow differently and creativity is both a blessing and a curse. There, Marlane finds herself among a diverse group of residents, some of whom she knew in the outside world, all of them fighting with their own artistic demons--and with each other. As the line between reality and imagination blurs, and her past begins to manifest in startling ways, Marlane starts to question what is real and what is merely a figment of the house's influence.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Will Marlane find the redemption she seeks, or will the house consume her creative spirit entirely? In the last book she wrote before her death, which has never been published before, Elaine Kraf explores the challenges of being a female creator, the transformative power of art, and the enduring quest for self-discovery.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":53613116621073,"sku":"NGR9798217153749","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53657802998033,"sku":"NIN9798217153749","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9798217153749.jpg?v=1780316496"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-elaine-kraf.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}