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Memoirs of Hecate County
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Memoirs of Hecate County
Memoirs of Hecate County is a work of fiction by Edmund Wilson, first published in 1946, but banned in the state of New York until 1959, when it was reissued with minor revisions by the author. After falling out of print it was republished in 2004 by NYRB Classics.
The book includes six short stories, three of which had been previously published. Although it is sometimes described as a novel, the only link between the six stories is the narrator, an "upper-middle-class intellectual", describing dysfunctional American society through sexual liaisons and friendships.
The book was popular, and the author later described it as his "favorite among my books."
The Man Who Shot Snapping Turtles
First published in Atlantic Monthly.
The unnamed narrator befriends a neighbor of his, Asa M. Stryker who is fascinated by ducks who frequent a pond on his property and is disgusted by the snapping turtles which prey on them. Unable to abolish the turtles he consults another neighbor, Clarence Latouche, who works as a copywriter and advises him that rather than destroy the turtles he should celebrate their resilience and begin to harvest them and sell them for turtle soup. Stryker takes this advice and becomes a wealthy man. Latouche grows jealous and demands more of the profits. Stryker is remarkably amiable to the idea which makes Latouche suspicious as he recalls that Stryker is a chemist and much of his previous money was due to inheritances from dead relatives. He takes one of Stryker's guns and murders him before fleeing. The murder is blamed on one of Stryker's guards and Latouche spends the rest of his days in poverty, fearful that the guard will one day be caught and he will have to confess.
Ellen Terhune
First published in Partisan Review.
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Memoirs of Hecate County
Memoirs of Hecate County is a work of fiction by Edmund Wilson, first published in 1946, but banned in the state of New York until 1959, when it was reissued with minor revisions by the author. After falling out of print it was republished in 2004 by NYRB Classics.
The book includes six short stories, three of which had been previously published. Although it is sometimes described as a novel, the only link between the six stories is the narrator, an "upper-middle-class intellectual", describing dysfunctional American society through sexual liaisons and friendships.
The book was popular, and the author later described it as his "favorite among my books."
The Man Who Shot Snapping Turtles
First published in Atlantic Monthly.
The unnamed narrator befriends a neighbor of his, Asa M. Stryker who is fascinated by ducks who frequent a pond on his property and is disgusted by the snapping turtles which prey on them. Unable to abolish the turtles he consults another neighbor, Clarence Latouche, who works as a copywriter and advises him that rather than destroy the turtles he should celebrate their resilience and begin to harvest them and sell them for turtle soup. Stryker takes this advice and becomes a wealthy man. Latouche grows jealous and demands more of the profits. Stryker is remarkably amiable to the idea which makes Latouche suspicious as he recalls that Stryker is a chemist and much of his previous money was due to inheritances from dead relatives. He takes one of Stryker's guns and murders him before fleeing. The murder is blamed on one of Stryker's guards and Latouche spends the rest of his days in poverty, fearful that the guard will one day be caught and he will have to confess.
Ellen Terhune
First published in Partisan Review.