Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories

Celebrated for her award-winning political columns, criticism, and poetry, Katha Pollitt now shows us another side of her talent. Learning to Drive is a surprising, revealing, and entertaining collection of stories drawn from the author's own life.

With deep feeling and sharp insight, Pollitt writes about the death of her father; the sad but noble final days of a leftist study group of which she was a member; and the betrayal and heartbreak inflicted by a man who seriously deceived her. (Her infinitely patient, gentle driving instructor points out her weakness — "Observation, Katha, observation!") She also offers a candid view of her preoccupation with her ex-lover's haunting presence on the Internet, and her search there for a secret link that might provide a revelation about him that will Explain Everything.

Other topics include the differences between women and men — "More than half the male members of the Donner party died of cold and starvation, but three quarters of the females survived, saved by that extra layer of fat we spend our lives trying to get rid of" — and the practical implications of political theory: "What if socialism — all that warmhearted folderol about community and solidarity and sharing was just an elaborate con job, a way for men to avoid supporting their kids?"

Learning to Drive demonstrates that while Katha Pollitt is undeniably one of our era's most profound observers of culture, society, and politics, she is just as impressively a wise, graceful, and honest observer of her own and others' human nature.

"This collection of reflections by the Nation essayist and poet Pollitt (Reasonable Creatures) ranges in subject from her philandering boyfriend to a general late-midlife sense of loss. The title essay is the zippiest and most successful, fashioning a canny metaphor about the importance of observation both in learning to drive for the first time at age 52 and in recognizing that her lover of seven years was cheating on her from the get-go. Pollitt plays the conflicted modern woman par excellence, both feminist and feminine; she writes of unabashedly joining a Marxist study group at the behest of her guru-like boyfriend, who padded the meetings with past and present lovers ('In the Study Group'), then wonders with wistful anticipation what kind of life it will be when she has outlived all the men who find her desirable ('After the Men Are Dead'). Familiarity seems to breed weariness, however, and her essays about motherhood ('Beautiful Screamer') and women's tenacious collusion in men's superiority ('Sisterhood') have the feel of oft-tread ground. (Sept. 4)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"By the end of this collection, it's not hard to admire Pollitt's uncompromising effort and jaunty humor as she negotiates the minefield of late middle age. She even wins for herself, and by extension her readers, a certain grace." Seattle Times

"Pollitt's is the kind of book you want to look up from at points so you can read aloud certain passages to a friend or lover." Chicago Tribune

"Ultimately, a sharp tongue, a quick wit and ample intellect provide a powerful defense but little consolation for women in search of that phantom that is freedom from men and the vulnerability of love." New York Times

This collection of personal stories from one of Americas best-known and most respected political commentators has the perspective, humor, and literary excellence of Pollitt's poetry, and puts a new and even more human face on this gifted observer of culture.

Katha Pollitt, the author of Virginity or Death!, is a poet, essayist, and columnist for The Nation. She has won many prizes and awards for her work, including the National Book Critics Circle Award for her first collection of poems, Antarctic Traveller, and two National Magazine Awards for essays and criticism. She lives in New York City.