Eleven Stories High: Growing Up in Stuyvesant Town, 1948-1968 [Paperback]

Corinne Demas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2002

This memoir evokes a girl's coming of age in a postwar New York City planned, "utopian" community.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Demas displays fine skills of observation in an otherwise slight memoir of growing up in a unique apartment complex. Designed as an ideal middle-class community in Manhattan, Stuyvesant Town occupies 18 square blocks; its brick buildings shut out the bustling city beyond the perimeter. Opened in 1947, the complex housed 9,000 qualified families, who, according to the author, were white and predominantly Jewish. These new residents placed a high value on education and the arts; in a particularly enjoyable chapter about the prevalence of music lessons, Demas notes that pianos "seemed like basic appliances" in Stuyvesant Town. Demas's Greek parents fully shared their neighbors' values. A comfortable, two-career couple (her father was a dentist, her mother a high school biology teacher), they sent their only child to competitive public schools. The book is most lively and engaging when Demas describes her family: her father haunted by his WWII memories or enjoying the camaraderie of fellow Greeks; her mother, in true '50s style, handling the domestic responsibilities. But Demas's depiction of apartment livingAelevators, laundry rooms, lack of pets and most significantly, the close proximity to neighborsAmay be most revealing to readers unfamiliar with apartment life. Many readers, however, will want more insight into the psychological makeup of Demas's family and the talented author. B&w photos. (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

This poignant memoir of life in Stuyvesant Town, a New York City housing project, describes growing up in what the author deems a "utopia of the fifties." Corinne Demas evokes in convincing detail the friendships, foibles, and fantasies of a girl's coming of age in a "vertical" neighborhood of pets, games, elevator rides, and family life. She follows the process of memory, rather than the conventions of chronology, to take us on a vivid journey of the 1950's and 60's America of Halloween costumes, roller skating, the new T.V. culture, high school dances, and music lessons. She lovingly tells of her father-an unconventional dentist-and her mother, both a traditional housewife and a high school biology teacher.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (June 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791446301
• ISBN-13: 978-0791446300
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,119,068 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Corinne Demas is the author of two collections of short stories, three novels, a memoir, a collection of poetry, a play, and numerous books for children. She is Professor of English at Mount Holyoke College and a fiction editor of the Massachusetts Review. Before the year 2000, she published her books under the name Corinne Demas Bliss.

Corinne grew up in New York City, in Stuyvesant Town, the subject of her memoir, "Eleven Stories High: Growing Up in Stuyvesant Town 1948-1968". She attended Hunter College High School, graduated from Tufts University, and completed a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. She lived in Pittsburgh for a number of years, teaching at the University of Pittsburgh and at Chatham College.

She lives with her family in Western Massachusetts and spends the summer on Cape Cod. You will find more information at her website: www.corinnedemas.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Growing Up Revisited, August 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Eleven Stories High : Growing Up in Stuyvesant Town, 1948-1968 (Hardcover)

As an ex-New Yorker whose first apartment as a married woman was in Stuyvesant Town, this lovely memoir brought me back 28 years. The descriptions of life there matched and echoed what my husband and sister-in-law always told me, and reflected my experiences as well. The added attraction for me was that the author graduated from Hunter High School, my alma mater, her mother taught at Stuyvesant High School, where my husband attended, and the vignettes of my education at Hunter brought me back to Lexington Avenue and 68th Street in a way that only my own year book could. This is a beautiful piece of writing and I would encourage all with ties to New York and the places of Demas' youth to spend the time reading.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL, October 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Eleven Stories High : Growing Up in Stuyvesant Town, 1948-1968 (Hardcover)

What an absolutely delightful book! THIS is what the childhoods were really like for most of us who grew up in the 40s and 50s. I grew up in suburban California but I still identified with the author in almost every emotion, every situation she describes, even though I had always thought those poor kids who grew up in the high rise apartments in New York were really missing out. Not true! I read a lot of memoirs, and I have to say I am so tired of DYSfunctional parents, DYSfunctional situations, etc. This book is like a breath of fresh air. I don't mean to imply that all was peachy keen, but the upsetting situations the author faced were not built into huge life happenings that she was going to take a lifetime to deal with. She had a good childhood. She made a good childhood for herself. She should be very proud of this book and I hope it gets more publicity so it won't be lost in the deluge of memoirs.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Memoir Written with Warmth and Humor, September 21, 2006

By 

Sandy (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eleven Stories High: Growing Up in Stuyvesant Town, 1948-1968 (Paperback)

This charming memoir is more than a story about a particular place and time--it's a story about growing up, about living in a city, about American middle class life. Now, with Stuyvesant Town a hot item in the news, Demas's smart and accurate book has particular value to anyone interested in New York City's future. This is an important look at what's at stake now in urban politics, but at the same time it's a great pleasure to read--filled with wonderful details and written with humor and warmth.