Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. CONTENTS ix
3. Foreword xv
4. Acknowledgments xxi
5. Introduction 1
6. Part I: Childhood, Through a Glass Darkly
7. 1 A Girl of the Limberlost (Gene Stratton- Porter) 5
8. 2 The Young Visiters (Daisy Ashford) 12
9. 3 The Diary of “Helena Morley” (Elizabeth Bishop, trans.) 18
10. 4 Brown Girl, Brownstones (Paule Marshall: In Memoriam) 23
11. 5 An American Childhood (Annie Dillard) 29
12. 6 The Last Samurai (Helen DeWitt) 34
13. Part II: Other Worlds
14. 7 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 41
15. 8 The House on the Borderland (William Hope Hodgson) 49
16. 9 Lolly Willowes (Sylvia Townsend Warner) 57
17. 10 Mythology (Edith Hamilton) 62
18. 11 Other Leopards (Denis Williams) 68
19. 12 Solaris (Stanislaw Lem) 74
20. 13 Riddley Walker (Russell Hoban) 78
21. Part III: Comedy
22. 14 The Beggar’s Opera ( John Gay) 85
23. 15 Lady Into Fox (David Garnett) 92
24. 16 Prater Violet (Christopher Isherwood) 98
25. 17 “Rogue’s Gallery” (Mary McCarthy) 103
26. 18 Gringos (Charles Portis) 109
27. Part IV: Battle and Strife
28. 19 The Road to Calvary (Alexei Tolstoy) 115
29. 20 The Forbidden Zone (Mary Borden) 122
30. 21 Nikola the Outlaw (Ivan Olbracht) 128
31. 22 The House of Hunger (Dambudzo Marechera) 134
32. 23 The Short- Timers (Gustav Hasford) 140
33. 24 A Flag for Sunrise (Robert Stone) 145
34. 25 The Vehement Passions (Philip Fisher) 152
35. Part V: Home Fires
36. 26 Annals of the Parish ( John Galt) 157
37. 27 The Dry Heart (Natalia Ginzburg) 163
38. 28 Life Among the Savages; Raising Demons (Shirley Jackson) 169
39. 29 My Uncle Napoleon (Iraj Pezeshkzad) 174
40. 30 We Think the World of You ( J. R. Ackerley) 179
41. 31 All Aunt Hagar’s Children (Edward P. Jones) 184
42. Part VI: Mysteries and Trials
43. 32 The Diaries of Lady Anne Clifford 189
44. 33 The Riddle of the Sands (Erskine Childers) 197
45. 34 Stamboul Train (Graham Greene) 203
46. 35 The Hours Before Dawn (Celia Fremlin) 211
47. Part VII: Journeys of the Spirit
48. 36 A Life of One’s Own (Marion Milner) 219
49. 37 Butcher’s Crossing ( John Williams) 226
50. 38 Journey in Search of the Way (Satomi Myōdō) 233
51. 39 I Remember (Joe Brainard) 239
52. 40 Transformatrix (Patience Agbabi) 246
53. Contributors 251