Josephine Herbst, The Starched Blue Sky of Spain and Other Memoirs

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While many critics agree with Alfred Kazin's

New York Times Book Review

assessment that Josephine Herbst's lyrical

The Starched Blue Sky of Spain and Other Memoirs

is her “best book”, the memoirs were not published

as a book

until 1991, almost thirty years after her death in 1969. According to her biographer Elinor Langer, Herbst began writing her memoirs in the mid 1950s. Herbst published three sections of the memoir as essays in

The Noble Savage

(1960, 1961) and

New American Review

(1968). A previously unpublished section, “The Magicians and their Apprentices”, was included in the 1991 publication. This important addition focuses on the significance of Herbst's childhood to her formation as a writer. While the yearning to leave the Midwest of her childhood for the “great…

813 words

Citation: Hubler, Angela E.. "The Starched Blue Sky of Spain and Other Memoirs". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 July 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7821, accessed 29 March 2024.]

7821 The Starched Blue Sky of Spain and Other Memoirs 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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