Me Again: Uncollected Writings of Stevie Smith

by Stevie Smith, Jack Barbera (Editor), William McBrien (Editor)

"Preface by James MacGibbon. Praise quotes on rear cover by May Sarton and Annie Dillard. Illus. with drawings in B&W and two photos of Stevie Smith. Essays, Stories, Reviews, Poems, Letters, and a Radio "A Turn Outside". Indexed"

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Essays

360 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1983

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971), was an English poet and novelist.

Reviews

[Paula Bardell-Hedley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Florence Margaret Smith (1902-1971), known to friends and readers as Stevie Smith, was a highly witty English writer, most famous for her perceptive, clever little poems (often accompanied by amusing pen and ink drawings), and her idiosyncratic novels.

Me Again, first published in 1984, brings together many of her lesser known essays, short stories, reviews and poems on subjects ranging from the seaside and very naughty children to religion, loneliness and death - the latter subject recurring frequently throughout her work.

This volume is amusingly eccentric, frequently mischievous and utterly English, in a very Middle-Class, mid twentieth century sort of way. Of particular fun is her 1959 foreword to a picture book, entitled Cats in Colour, in which she describes the pampered felines as "catsy-watsies", and concludes that: "It is an amiable part of human nature, that we should love our animals; it is even better to love them to the point of folly, than not to love them at all."

Included are many personal letters to friends, publishers and literary acquaintances - lively and conversational in style . I was also delighted to find that one of her most loved poems (and my personal favourite): Not Waving But Drowning, is included in a piece called Too Tired for Words from 1956.

All in all this is a wonderful addition to the Smith oeuvre, which throws light on her self-contained life and unique personality. The various compositions do, however, vary in quality (though none could be described as 'poor'), and should ideally be read alongside (or after having explored) her magnificent poetry collections and unique novels - especially Novel on Yellow Paper (1936).

[Alex Ankarr · Rating 4 out of 5]

liked it.

[Cooper Renner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Work which she herself chose not to include in her “official” books. A sampler, then ,but not a sampler of the best of Smith, but rather the “leftovers”. There’s some good stuff here, but really, read the poems. Read the poems. And maybe the novels, which display the same wit and outlook as the poems, but are rather more formless and plotless. I skipped big chunks of this because it’s not the best of her work.

[Paolo Z · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some witty poems. And some very cute drawings. But the essays and reviews don't hold up (and yes I know she was writing in the early 20th century, but that's no excuse.) To be frank, the drawings were the best part of the book.