Helen DeWitt’s Followers (571)

Helen DeWitt

Born

in Takoma Park, The United States

January 01, 1957

Website

http://helendewitt.com/dewitt/vita.html

Genre

Literature & Fiction

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Helen DeWitt (born 1957 in Takoma Park, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C.) is a novelist.

DeWitt grew up primarily in South America (Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador), as her parents worked in the United States diplomatic service. After a year at Northfield Mount Hermon School and two short periods at Smith College, DeWitt studied classics at the University of Oxford, first at Lady Margaret Hall, and then at Brasenose College for her D.Phil.

DeWitt is best known for her acclaimed debut novel, The Last Samurai. She held a variety of jobs while struggling to finish a book, including a dictionary text tagger, a copytaker, and Dunkin' Donuts employee, she also worked in a laundry service. During this time she reportedly attempted to fini ...more

618 posts
Helen DeWitt's Blog

Helen DeWitt isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but they do have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from their feed.

So long, Onetel

I've had the email address hdewitt@onetel.com since 2002 or so. Since then I believe onetel has been taken over by Talk Talk. For a while Talk Talk continued to support legacy email accounts, but they have finally decided to discontinue them. That is, I thought I had managed to confirm the account with them, but now I can't log into it, so it looks as though it has been discontinued.

Unfortunate

Combine Editions
Helen DeWitt’s books

Average rating: 3.99 · 27,153 ratings · 4,398 reviews · 15 distinct works • Similar authors

	The English Understand Wool 4.07 avg rating — 12,011 ratings — published 2022 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Last Samurai 4.11 avg rating — 10,914 ratings — published 2000 — 61 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lightning Rods 3.46 avg rating — 2,934 ratings — published 2011 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Some Trick: Thirteen Stories 3.35 avg rating — 1,208 ratings — published 2018 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Your Name Here by Helen DeWitt, Ilya Gridneff 3.84 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 2008 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Recovery by Helen DeWitt, Halimah Marcus (Foreword) 3.79 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 2012	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	On the Town 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Soupapes & Cie by Helen DeWitt, Anne Le Bot (translator) liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cinema and Revolution 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Takahiko Iimura at the Lux-Film, Video, CD-Rom, Installation 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Helen DeWitt (?)

“There is a strange taboo in our society against ending something merely because it is not pleasant-- life, love, a conversation, you name it, the etiquette is that you must begin in ignorance & persevere in the face of knowledge, & though I naturally believe that this is profoundly wrong it's not nice to go around constantly offending people.”
― Helen DeWitt, The Last Samurai

46 likes

“The master swordsman isn't interested in killing people. He only wants to perfect his art.”
― Helen DeWitt, The Last Samurai

33 likes

“There are people who think contraception is immoral because the object of copulation is procreation. In a similar way there are people who think the only reason to read a book is to write a book; people should call up books from the dust and the dark and write thousands of words to be sent down to the dust and the dark which can be called up so that other people can send further thousands of words to join them in the dust and the dark. Sometimes a book can be called from the dust and the dark to produce a book which can be bought in shops, and perhaps it is interesting, but the people who buy it and read it because it is interesting are not serious people, if they were serious they would not care about the interest they would be writing thousands of words to consign to the dust and the dark. There are people who think death a fate worse than boredom.”
― Helen DeWitt, The Last Samurai

31 likes

See all Helen DeWitt's quotes »

Polls

What will be our September 2019 Open Pick?

Remember, if you vote for a book and it wins, you are implicitly promising to read the book and participate in the discussion. If you fail to join in... I still need a new threat!

The poll will be open through July 31st (Note: Check for availability before voting. You can change your vote at any time prior to the closing of the poll.) Discussion will begin on September 1st.

The Long Take by Robin Robertson

4 votes, 44.4%

A Spare Life by Lidija Dimkovska

2 votes, 22.2%

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

2 votes, 22.2%

Lightning Rods by Helen DeWitt

1 vote, 11.1%

9 total votes

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