Give Sorrow Words: Maryse Holder's Letters From Mexico

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Give Sorrow Words is the story of one woman’s shocking descent into a provocative world of lust and danger. As Maryse Holder’s letters explore the last, eventful months in her life, they speak directly to the reader—forcing us to confront the pain, and even sometimes the passion, of living on the very edge of life, to the end.

Maryse Holder was born in Paris on October 19, 1940, Her mother, a member of the French Resistance, died in a concentration camp after being sent to Germany by the Vichy government. She came to America, as a stateless person, with her father when she was seven years old. After being dismissed as Professor at City University in a mass firing due to NYC fiscal problems, Holder decided to pursue a life exploring sex in Mexico. While in Mexico she wrote a series of letter describing her exploits to Edith Jones, a friend in New York City. These letters became the basis for Give Sorrow Words: Maryse Holder's Letters from Mexico, originally published posthumously in 1979 by Grove Press with an introduction by feminist author Kate Millett, after Holder was murdered in Mexico in 1977.

This ebook edition contains a new essay by Edith Jones on the meaning of Maryse Holder’s book, and the controversy surrounding it.

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“A compelling document... the letters are her legacy, her testament, her vindication.”
The New York Times Book Review

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“Brilliant . . . . Her descent, cloacal and self-destructive, was an examination—more Genet than Jong. She recorded everything, held nothing back, seemed to be her own guardian angel floating above her as she went at the wellsprings of desire. A powerful, disordering book.”
Kirkus Reviews

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“GIVE SORROW WORDS is the powerful, haunting chronicle of a woman’s escape into the sensual heart of Mexico, and the savage murder that ended her desperate search for pleasure—and love. IN BRUTALLY DIRECT LANGUAGE . . . . Maryse wrote the moral history of the women of her generation.”
The Soho News

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“Revelation: she’s as good if not better than her male literary counterparts—Kerouac, Burroughs, Mailer—meaner, wittier, wilder, and fresher. I want to . . . make claims for its powers in a public arena.”
Vanalyne Green, Professor of Fine Arts, University of Leeds, United Kingdom

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“Dear Edith,
This is ________, writing with a belated thanks for the incredible book you sent me. I was deeply affected by the text. It inspires me, cinematically and beyond. I am pondering ways it could be seen again, and more fully. I love the idea of a TV series but am not the woman to do it, considering my current obligations--I will, of course, share the book with whoever will listen.”
Sent to Edith Jones by somewhat heavy, young, female cultural icon. Guess who!

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“A series....Yes, definitely a series,”
Marvin Braverman, Hollywood writer and playwright

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“A SISTER
AN ADVENTURESS
A MADWOMAN
Daring as an early Henry Miller, self-destructive as Janis, the voice of Genet in a woman, speaking the purest American. Maryse’s is the most authentic voice, in sheer language, that I have heard off a page since the new consciousness hit women.”
From the Introduction by Kate Millett