In Praise of Older Women: The Amorous Recollections of A. V (Phoenix Fiction Series)

379 Pages·1990·0.96 MB·English

by  Stephen Vizinczey

U7008 A Ballantine Book 95¢

In Praise of Older Women
the amourous recollections of András Vajda
by Stephen Vizinczey
Few novels have ever enjoyed such extraordinary
success as Stephen Vizinczey's first novel, In Praise
of Older Women .

Subtitled "the amorous recollections of András
Vajda," this wildly funny, affectionate, and pene-
trating novel is "dedicated to older women and
is addressed to young men." Recalling with irony
and insight his youthful love affairs with girls
his own age and with mature women -- both in
Europe and in America -- Vajda (now a middle-
aged thirty) writes a book of memory and advice:
that a woman of a certain age -- say thirty-five --
can be a more graceful, more intelligent, a better
lover, and a more delightful companion in sex,
than all the nubile young girls and perpetual teen-
agers idolized in advertising, films, and fiction.

An instantaneous best seller in England and
America, In Praise of Older Women has been
acclaimed by critics for its freshness and candor
and will soon be published in Sweden, Finland,
Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands.
PRAISE FOR IN PRAISE OF OLDER WOMEN

"A rarity among books -- an erotic novel in which
sexual experience is not a torment, a novel that af-
firms its pleasures and joys. . . ." -- MAX LERNER, New
York Post
"Delightful ... András is a confirmed lover of wom-
en. He likes to be with women, to talk to women, to
sleep with women. The novel is a series of his enjoy-
ments, but it differs from almost any other similar
novel I know in that every erotic episode is unique
and interesting." -- Washington Sunday Star
"In Praise of Older Women is extraordinary in its
modesty and buoyancy, its fearlessness and persistent
unemphasized sadness. It comes to the boundaries of
life, but only after alert and energetic explorations. . . .

It is a good novel." -- The Hudson Review
"A minor masterpiece of serious comedy. Its treat-
ment of sex is both funny and honest, without a trace
of either post-Lawrentian portentousness or of the
pornographic snigger." -- IVON OWEN

Stephen Vizinczey was born in Hungary in 1933
and fled to the West after the Hungarian uprising in
1956. After a stay in Italy, he reached Canada where
he wrote scripts for the National Film Board, one of
which, Four Religions , won an Ohio TV award. In
1962, after founding and editing the literary maga-
zine Exchange , he joined the Canadian Broadcasting
Company as a writer and producer. Most recently he
has been living in London with his wife and children,
and is at work on a play and a second novel.

In Praise of
Older Women
the amorous recollections of

András Vajda

by
Stephen Vizinczey

BALLANTINE BOOKS * NEW YORK
Copyright © 1965 by Stephen Vizinczey.

All rights reserved. AU names and characters in this book are
fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or
dead, is purely coincidental.

Originally published in Canada by

Contemporary Canada Press
First edition: August, 1965

First Canadian paperbound edition: October, 1966
Second Canadian printing: November, 1966

First U.S. paperbound edition: January, 1967

Second U.S. printing: January, 1967

Chapters One and Two originally appeared in The Tamarack
Review and Chapter Twelve in Prism International.

Cover photo by Jack Jensen.

Printed in the United States of America.