The Seasons: Death and Transfiguration

by Jo Sinclair

As a novelist concerned with issues of gender, social class, and ethnicity, Jo Sinclair has won coveted literary prizes and a devoted following. Now in this extraordinary memoir, she relates a tale as fascinating and moving as any work of fiction.

In this unique instance of Sinclair's storytelling, she tells the story of her Jewish working-class life through the prism of an intense relationship with a middle-class Anglo married women, into whose house she moves so that she might write her books. Helen Buchman gives Sinclair a room of her own and persuades her to eschew alcohol for gardening and to believe in herself.

288 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1993

About the author

Ruth Seid (July 1, 1913 - April 4, 1995), was an American novelist who wrote under the pen name Jo Sinclair. She earned awards and critical praise for her novels about race relations and the struggles of immigrant families in America.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adore Sinclair's novel, The Wasteland, for its awesome portrayal of a lesbian and for its astute psychological insights. When I learned that Sinclair had a memoir, I was delighted. The Seasons is part of the Feminist Press memoir series and it is a moving story about the death of Sinclair's lover, though the relationship is never drawn explicitly. Helen Buchman is the confidante, patron, and intimate of Jo Sinclair/Ruth Seid, who makes Sinclair's work possible and meaningful. Written largely as a journal, the book lacks at times the kind of artfulness and narrative that I love in memoir or autobiography. Still, this peek into Sinclair's life and interiority is a treat for me as a fan of her work,

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The seasons are, of course, a metaphor for the course of lives, both the narrator's and the woman she loves who dies too young. But any reader who loves plants and knows the hard, dirty work required to garden will be fascinated. For Jo/Ruth, gardening is not a hobby, but life-saving therapy. Her depiction of Helen's illness and death was deeply moving.