A Hasty Bunch

A Hasty Bunch was published a half-­century ago in Paris in a limited edition by Contact Editions—and never re­printed until now. The first story, “Backslider,” chroni­cles Gert Northrup’s fall from grace with ironic understanding. In “Sing the Baby to Sleep, Marietta,” McAlmon’s lyricism and sharpness of eye for the colors of the New Mexico desert create an almost unbearable tension in a story of two women in love with the same man. “Light Woven into Wavespray” displays McAlmon’s youthful self-consciousness about a man’s romantic yearnings. “A Boy’s Discovery” is a moving example of the tough, poignant analysis of the young which is charac­teristic of McAlmon’s work. “The Psychoanalyzed Girl” portrays a mem­orable—and astonishingly modern— young woman in Montparnasse. “A Family Business” is a delightful charac­terization of an ailing guest at the “Rest an Hour Kosher year-round hotel.” And in “Abrupt Decision” a docile housewife is brought to a realization of the futility of all thing