I heart Terry Castle

By Kathy G.

I agree with James Wolcott -- Terry Castle is a wonderful writer. She's a Stanford literature prof who wrote a brilliant book about one of my all-time favorite novels (it's got to be in my top five favorite novels, at least), as well as a fascinating study analyzing cultural representations of lesbians.

For a number of years now, she's been contributing the occasional article to the London Review of Books, and every one of them I've read, the literary reviews as well as the autobiographical essays, has been a gem. The latest one is a memorable piece about a trip to New Mexico with her elderly mom. But I think her all-time classic has got to be her gimlet-eyed and hilarious essay about her frenemy Susan Sontag.

I agree with Wolcott that her personal essays should be collected together and published as a memoir in book form. They're way too good to be consigned to the ephemeral format of a journal article.