She first started to muse on and explore these ideas after the theft of Vermeer
's painting Young Lady with a Guitar by Irish terrorists during the winter of 1974. She was fascinated by the...
Reception
Mary McCarthy
When it was published the book immediately became a bestseller. William Jovanovich
, Harcourt's chairman, wrote MMC
informing her about its flying start. He wrote: It was reviewed . . . on the front...
Textual Production
Mary McCarthy
Harcourt's president, William Jovanovich
, had forebodings about this book's reception. Instead of bringing it out with the big fall 1970 books, he chose to publish in the spring. Instead of starting off with...
