Szerlip, Barbara

The Ugliest Woman in the World and Other Histories

Arlington, VA: Gallimaufry, 1978. First Edition. “Barbara Alexandra Szerlip was in San Francisco during the 1970s having just come from a stint as a student of [Kenneth] Rexroth’s at UCSB. She lived in a cottage on his property during her senior year in college and spent much time with Rexroth, having had full access to his extraordinary library. Some mentorship, this! Which served her in good stead, as she was in my opinion the most studied and mature poet of those of my generation to appear in print and at readings…Having heard of her and having attended her book launch for her early book titled Sympathetic Alphabet in 1975, her poem “Calentura” was and still remains one of my favorite poems from the renaissance days, which I published in my editorial issue in Beatitude No. 25 and then in the Generations anthology with NNP [New Native Press] in 2015…Regarding all this she says: “Perhaps all this can be thought of as having stemmed, in one form or another, from Kenneth Rexroth’s mentorship. I certainly hope that he would be proud of my efforts.””--Thomas Rain Crowe, Thomas Rain Crowe Archive, pg 80. Offered today is another delectable rarity from the Second San Francisco Renaissance/Baby Beat Generation, The Ugliest Woman in the World and Other Histories (1978) by Barbara Alexandra Szerlip. Szerlip, a noted and beloved student of Kenneth Rexroth (1905–1982), found herself proselytizing and slinging dimebags of poetry throughout the cafes, reading rooms and publishers of San Francisco for the better part of the 1970s. Much liker her mentors work, Szerlip’s writing is personal, revealing, confessional without being sentimental, and is injected with a lyricism that is as compelling as it is beautiful. The Ugliest Woman in the World and Other Histories is a collection of prose poems that trace the lives of women throughout history, exploring identity, womanhood as concept, women’s place in society, and feminism. Raw, visceral, and unapologetic The Ugliest Woman in the World and Other Histories is a work that is both incredibly subtle and impeccably constructed; leaving no room for error and dripping with imagery and inspiration, Szerlip’s work is flawless. From the archive of Thomas Rain Crowe, scholar, writer and member of the Baby Beat Generation. For more information on the Thomas Rain Crowe archive (assembled & curated by Third Mind Books), see our book Starting From San Francisco: Thomas Rain Crowe in Conversation with Third Mind Books (item #3071) & the catalog for the Crowe archive (see item #1010), which contains several excerpts and quotations from the book as well as a full listing of the archive’s contents, which are now being offered for sale individually on the Third Mind Books site. Softcover. First edition as stated at copyright page, presumed first printing though not explicated as such thereon. In very fine condition with only slight wear to fine edges, and minor smudging to front and back covers. Very Fine. [Item #7476]

Price: $30.00