Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Smith, Stevie (Vol. 25) - Quentin Crisp

1. Printable Version
2. Download PDF
3. Cite this Page
4. Tweet This

QUENTIN CRISP

Anyone who is what Sylvia Plath called herself—a "Smith-addict"—will find [Me Again: Uncollected Writings of Stevie Smith] completely absorbing….

The final item in this collection—the radio play—at first appears to be a hoax, a poetry reading masquerading as drama. Gradually, however, it transpires that the Interviewer is Death, the author's "earliest love." From then on I was spellbound. One speech begins, "There is little laughter where you are going and no warmth." It reads like a translation from Rilke. A few moments such as this fully compensate for a prevailing defect that is signaled to us by the very title of the book.

Elizabeth Lutyens said that Miss Smith adopted a "deliberate 'childish' manner," and added with some asperity, "Who in hell wants 'innocence' from an adult—or a child?" Innocence is the opposite of guilt and is commendable in a person of any age. What is difficult to stomach is tweeness—a...

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

1. Introduction
2. Calvin Bedient
3. Stephen Tapscott
4. Mark Storey
5. Michael Schmidt
6. John Bayley
7. Victoria Glendinning
8. Penelope Fitzgerald
9. Carole Angier
10. Lisa Mitchell
11. Quentin Crisp
12. Joyce Carol Oates
13. Copyright