Memoirs of a Midget

by Walter de la Mare

Book Overview

"For centuries to come, this book will inspire imaginative people. Beyond all doubt, it will be an ingredient of future poetry."--Rebecca West

"It may be read with a great deal of simple enjoyment and then it sticks like a splinter in the mind."--Angela Carter

"It seems to me a perfect, utterly original novel, and no one but a poet could have written it...The book is totally idiosyncratic and yet there isn't a line you couldn't identify yourself with."--Harry Mathews

Miss M., the narrator of these fictional memoirs, is a diminutive young woman (though just how diminutive, the author never says) with a "passion for shells, fossils, flints, butterflies, and stuffed animals." Miss M. tells of her early life as a dreamy orphan and, in particular, of her tempestuous twentieth year--in which she falls in love with a beautiful and ambitious full-sized woman and is courted by a male dwarf. Concluding that she must choose either to simply tolerate her difference or grow callous to it, Miss M. resolves to become independent by offering herself up as a spectacle in a circus.

"One of the strangest and most enchanting works of fiction ever written."--Alison Lurie, from her foreword

"De la Mare's masterpiece...It acts upon the reader like a ghostly visitation, at once unsettling and revelatory."--Washington Post

"Here is a great book."--New York Times Book Review

"Sentences, pages, whole chapters cause us to catch our breath."--Atlantic Monthly

"After a long period of neglect de la Mare may be beginning to be seen as the remarkable writer that he is."--John Bayley, New York Review of Books

Walter de la Mare (1873-1956) wrote numerous novels, short stories, essays, and poems. He was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Memoirs of a Midget. Other major works include the children's novel, The Three Royal Monkeys, Henry Brocken, and The Return. His book Desert Islands is also available from Paul Dry Books.

Alison Lurie is the author of many highly praised novels as well as two collections of essays on children's literature, Don't Tell the Grown-Ups and Boys and Girls Forever. She has taught children's literature and folklore at Cornell University for many years.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1589880129
• ISBN13: 9781589880122
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Paul Dry Books
• Length: 379 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Well, I'll take my time to do this...

...though few enough people will ever read it, because this book languishes in undeserved obscurity. This novel is a fascinating look into a life which is unimaginable to most of us--this life of a tiny, delicate midget, whose heart and soul are as large as she is small. This is not a book to be picked up for an idle afternoon's reading (though it is not difficult to read), because it is truly like entering...well, a fairyland. If you are a reader of high fiction, you will love it. And, though I'm evidently the only person in the world who knows this, it would make a world-beating animated film.

The most enchanting and bizarre tale you'll ever encounter

De La Mare's little gem, Memoirs of a Midget has to be one of my favourite novels of all time; an uncanny situation, richly developed personalities and the ever present philisophical questions of identity, place and sexuality are all addressed in the most quizzical and charming ways. A must have for those who consider themselves lovers of fairytales as well as philosophers.

short peoples unite!

I thought that this book was excellent! As a fellow short person, I could relate to the story wonderfully! I have felt the same feelings that she felt, it was almost like a mirror was held up to my life. Well except for the when the book took place I can't believe how awesome this book was! Now perhaps people will look at the midgets and think that they are real people too, not just disformed humans. you should read this book. It was the best book I ever read. I hope that everyone reads this book so that people everywhere can get to know the hardships that we face in our day to day lives. This book really educated my friends on how hard life can be. I can only hope that others will do the same thing.

An engagingly told, wry yet witty read

Memoirs Of A Midget by Walter de la Mare is a fictional memoir of Miss M, a diminutive young woman (exactly how diminutive is left up to the reader's interpretation!), who grows up in an orphanage and eventually falls in love with a full-sized woman even as she is courted by a male dwarf. The daily travails of Miss M, with the unique obstacles presented by her size difference, lead to her resolve to claim independence by offering herself as a spectacle in a circus. An engagingly told, wry yet witty read, Memoirs Of A Midget is a unique and inherently fascinating novel from beginning to end.