PICTURES AND CONVERSATIONS: Chapters of an Autobiography with Other Collected Writings

This--Elizabeth Bowen's last book--is a collection of her writings that is wonderfully various in subject matter, yet bound together by the consistent sensibility, the precision of feeling, the special vision, and the unique style that were so unmistakably Elizabeth Bowen's. The first few chapters of her unfinished autobiography, along with her outline for the rest, make up the opening section. Then there are the beginning of a novel, in work at the time of her death (to have been called The Move-In); an essay on one of Proust's characters, the writer Bergotte; and a nativity play written for performance in an Irish cathedral. A re-issue of her highly valued and much-quoted "Notes on Writing a Novel" completes the book.

In a foreword, Miss Bowen's friend and literary executor, Spencer Curtis Brown, describes the writer he knew and tells something of her thoughts about the material collected here. She often discussed her writing with him, and he suggests how events in her life affeced her continual search for an mastery of new skills.

Those who already love Elizabeth Bowen will be fascinated by this collection. Others not yet familiar with her work will find it a delightful introduction and will be drawn--as will coming generations--to seek out her books just as they will continue to discover Jane Austen and the Brontës, whose enchantment outlives any whims of fashion or time.