Novel on Yellow Paper, or Work It Out for Yourself

By Stevie Smith

Book Overview

INTRODUCED BY RACHEL COOKE 'Virginia Woolf's roving consciousness lies behind the prose in Novel on Yellow Paper , but the tone owes more to Dorothy Parker . . . When first published in 1936, it overnight turned Smith into a celebrity . . . the subversiveness of this novel has never lost its appeal, its greatness lying in its exuberant celebration of the uncircumscribed spirit' - Frances Spalding, Independent Stevie's alter ego Pompey is young, in love and working as a secretary for the magnificent Sir Phoebus Ullwater. In between making coffee and typing letters for Sir Phoebus, Pompey scribbles down - on yellow office paper - her quirky thoughts. Her flights of imagination take in Euripedes, sex education, Nazi Germany and the Catholic Church, shattering conventions in their wake.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0860681467
• ISBN13: 9780860681465
• Release Date: December 1987
• Publisher: Random House, Inc.
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.6" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Short on plot, but long on ideas

Pompey Casmilus is a secretary living in London in the 1930's. In this book, she describes her thoughts about love, work, friendship and the Germans, amongst other things. If you're looking for a plot this isn't the book for you, but if you want emotional honesty and a startlingly original (and up to date) viewpoint, then go ahead and read it. Don't let the book's surreal style put you off - there's plenty of thought-provoking material in there.