The Autobiography of William Carlos Williams
Williams, William Carlos
Primary Category:
Literature /
Nonfiction
Genre: Autobiography
-
Annotated by:
- Coulehan, Jack
- Date of entry: Apr-26-2006
Summary
Williams's autobiography recounts his life from his first memory ("being put outdoors after the blizzard of '88") to the composition of "Patterson" and a trip to the American West in 1950. The book's 58 short chapters epitomize the writer's episodic and impressionistic style, presenting a series of scenes and meditations, rather than a narrative life story.
Miscellaneous
First published in 1951
Publisher
New Directions
Place Published
New York
Edition
1967
Page Count
402
Commentary
Chapter 43, "Of Medicine and Poetry," and chapter 54, "The Practice," are well known set-pieces frequently anthologized and employed in Literature and Medicine courses. Many other chapters might be usefully abstracted in the same way. Among these are: chapter 17, "Hell's Kitchen," about Williams's internship at the Nursery and Childrens' Hospital in Manhattan; chapter 37, "A Maternity Case," which reads exactly like one of Williams's doctor stories; and chapter 44, "The City of the Hospital," describing the dynamics and politics of medicine.
Here is an interesting quotation from chapter 44: "It's no different with medicine, a rat race if there ever was one, in which the ones most devoted to humanity often come in second best" (296).