Autobiography of an Elderly Woman [Hardcover]

Anonymous [ Mary Heaton Vorse ] (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1995

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1911. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN ELDERLY WOMAN CHAPTER I THE SHADOW OF AGE As I look back over my life, it divides itself into four parts. First come all the years before I married, and as I look back on my childhood and my short girlhood, it seems to me as though I were remembering the life of some other woman, for during these many years I know that I have changed several times from one person to another, and the world about me has had time to change also. All that early part swims in a fog, with here and there events popping out of the mist, more distinct than those a week past, -- often meaningless and trivial events these; I cannot tell by what caprice memory has elected to keep them so clear. Lately I find myself returning to certain opinions and prejudices of my girlhood, that I had long forgotten. Time, after all, has not obliterated them, nor have I walked away from them. It is rather as though I had gone in a circle, and as I come to the completion of it I find my old thoughts and opinions, changed and grown older, waiting for me. With my marriage begins the part of my life that seems real to me, -- it is as if I had dreamed all that went before. I loved the time when my children were little, and I have often wished that I could put them and myself back in the nursery again. I pity the women whose children come too late for them all to be in some sense children together. But however young a mother is, there is a great gap between her and her babies. My little children were of a different generation from me. And for all our striving to understand, they were babies and my husband and I "grown people," though as I look back we seem mere boy and girl. We worried over our babies, -- there were four of them, all in the nursery at the same time, -- we sat up nigh...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The nameless narrator of this moving study of an aging, feisty, cultivated widow and mother of four adult children defines the secret of growing old wisely as laying aside meaningless social convention and, instead, acting spontaneously. ``Every moment of our lives we are preparing for age; carving out the faces that we are to wear,'' she observes. Spry and defiant, she rebels against the constant interference of her overprotective children, who fret about her health, stuff her with pills and tell her how to behave. Longing for her dead husband's companionship, she gives advice and nurturance to one son, a somewhat arrogant bachelor, and draws close to her grandchildren, thereby closing the circle of generations. It's remarkable that this strikingly modern account of growing old was first published in 1911. It's more remarkable still that it was the work of 37-year-old Mary Heaton Vorse, Greenwich Village bohemian, radical journalist and eventual editor of The Masses, who wrote it in the voice of her mother. Despite a genteel stiffness to the prose, her narrative is a clear pool of wisdom and an antidote to the assumption that old age need be a time of isolated uselessness.

Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Pushcart Pr (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0916366790
• ISBN-13: 978-0916366797
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,452,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Autobiography of an Elderly Woman, September 6, 2007

By 

Lawrence Robinson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Autobiography Of An Elderly Woman (Paperback)

The work is not what the title says it is, since the author was in her 30s when it appeared almost a full century ago. The author put herself in her widowed mother's place, and in "1st person" described her relationships with family, children and granchildren, and friends. The early 20th century style is a bit stilted, but the book contains some excellent observations and insights. The columnist, David Brooks, praised it very highly, for that, and for the verisimilitude the author brings off so well. His review promted me to purchase it, and I strongly agree with him.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good insight into the elderly's hearts., May 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Autobiography of an Elderly Woman (Hardcover)

I appreciate the insight I gain from the author's perspective on growing old. As a single woman with an aging parents, the book helped me better understand them. Hopefully, the perspectives from the book help me becoming better parents when the time comes.

4.0 out of 5 stars Autobiography of an Elderly Woman, March 24, 2011

By 

Gardengirl25 - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Autobiography of an Elderly Woman (Hardcover)

Very enjoyable and insightful, which proves that some things never seem to change, from one generation to the next.Even though this book was written about 100 years ago! A parent and the child, seem to 'reverse' their roles in life, as they both age. At times it was humorus, and other times sad, only because I can see certain simularities in my life as well! I will encourage my adult children to read this book also!