Description
Literary Nonfiction. This is an intimate, stunning look at the torturous relationship of two writers: Marjorie Worthington and William Seabrook. A renowned writer on the exotic and the occult, Seabrook was an extraordinary figure from the 1920s to the 1940s who traveled widely and introduced the concept of the "zombie" to Americans. In 1966, years after his death from suicide, Worthington, his second wife, cast her eye on their years together and the erosion of their relationship. Seabrook was a sadist, yet to Worthington he was also enthralling; he was an alcoholic, but she believed she could protect him. In brilliantly depicted moments of folie à deux, we watch Worthington join Seabrook in his decline, and witness the shared claustrophobic, psychological breakdown that ensues.
"In journeying from the bright hilltop of bohemian exile to the grim, demonic depths of co-dependency and finally arriving at an equivocal twilit tranquility, there appears to be something appropriately ritualistic and cleansing to THE STRANGE WORLD OF WILLIE SEABROOK, an exorcism of sorts." —James Conway
"One of the fascinating things about Worthington's memoir is the frequent lurches of tone when Seabrook disrupts their generally placid domesticity with a hare-brained inspiration." —John Coulthart
"It is haunting, and between these two covers we find not only a lot of soul searching on the author's part, but also a picture of Seabrook as she knew him, a deeply-flawed, severely-troubled human being who seemed destined for self destruction ... Very highly recommended" —Nancy Oakes
Author Bio
Marjorie Worthington (1900-1976) was an American novelist, short story writer, and biographer. She met the popular author and journalist William Seabrook in 1926, and they wrote and traveled together throughout Europe and Africa until their divorce in 1941. Marjorie Worthington's account of her life with Seabrook was her last major published work, which Kirkus Reviews described as an "intense, self- questioning memoir."
Author City: NEW YORK, NY USA