Putting Myself Together

Writing 1974-

Jamaica Kincaid, Henry Louis Gates Jr

$62.95

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
05 August 2025

Literature, Poetry & Criticism; Literary essays; Anthologies (non-poetry); Literature: history & criticism; Gender studies: women; Hispanic & Latino studies

My ignorance was on my side. I wasn't afraid. I didn't know what to be afraid of. I did one thing, I did another. I did what I now call crashing about. One day I started to write.

This collection of Jamaica Kincaid's nonfiction writing, including early pieces from publications such as The New Yorker, The Village Voice, and Ms., proves what her admirers have always known: from the start, she has been a consummate stylist, and she has always been herself.

From ""Jamaica Kincaid's New York,"" which narrates her move to the city from Antigua at the age of sixteen and a half, to the classic ""Biography of a Dress,"" her cultural criticism, and her original thinking about the meaning of the garden, Kincaid writes about the world as she finds it, imparting her own quizzical, rapier-sharp response to whatever crosses her path.

Putting Myself Together is a brilliant, trenchant, hilarious self-portrait of the artist and a testament to how this inimitable, self-created mind and spirit, endowed with wit, humor, and fearlessness, has become one of our greatest, most original writers.

By: Jamaica Kincaid
Introduction by: Henry Louis Gates Jr
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Dimensions: Height: 233mm, Width: 161mm, Spine: 29mm
Weight: 522g
ISBN: 9780374613235
ISBN 10: 0374613230
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 05 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jamaica Kincaid was born in St. John's, Antigua. Her books include At the Bottom of the River, Annie John, Lucy, The Autobiography of My Mother, Mr. Potter, My Brother, See Now Then, and, with Kara Walker, An Encyclopedia of Gardening for Colored Children. She lives in Vermont.

Reviews for Putting Myself Together: Writing 1974-

""Putting Myself Together captures [Kincaid's] questing sensibility through a half-century's worth of personal essays and cultural criticism that provide a model of sumptuous slow thinking."" --Niela Orr, The New York Times ""Since her 1985 debut novel, ""Annie John,"" the Antiguan-born Kincaid has been impossible to ignore . . . the works [collected in Putting Myself Together] speak of a person who has refused to be defined by any kind of constraints."" --Bethanne Patrick, The Los Angeles Times ""Kincaid's cutting prose shines, and the collection makes for a marvelous account of the author's life and career. This is a triumph."" --Publishers Weekly (starred review) ""Putting Myself Together traces the shifts in Jamaica Kincaid's preoccupations--from the intricacies of social dynamics to the verdant dynamics of a garden bed."" --Maggie Lange, W Magazine ""Kincaid is a master of literary nonfiction's multifarious forms."" --Walton Muyumba, The Boston Globe