Find Him!

Find Him!

A Novel

About the Book

An uncanny novel which provides keen insight on patriarchal violence and female identity by the author of feminist cult classic The Princess of 72nd Street

With an introduction by Violet Kupersmith

Understand my beginning with Oliver. You will see that my love for him is not a romantic fantasy. Every bit of this love was formed from the reality of primary needs—ingestion, excretion, simple pleasure and pain.

Our narrator’s name and origins are unknown, but she claims to be from “another star.” Though she arrived as a fully grown woman, she did not yet have the ability to speak or look after herself. She lives with Oliver, who serves as both her caregiver and her captor and keeps the two of them in isolation from the rest of the world. Though she has no freedom, she insists that he did his best to protect her, to develop her into something more than she was.

Now she blends into our society, though she is still different at heart. The problem is, she can’t find Oliver. She goes back to their beginning to examine her relationship with him, a strange mix of father, lover, abuser, teacher.

And then there is the question of Edith, a mysterious woman whose absence seems to haunt them both.

Originally published in 1977 and seemingly woven from the fragments of nightmares and fantasies, Find Him! is a paragon of Elaine Kraf’s iconoclastic style, challenging and captivating in equal measure.

The Modern Library Torchbearers Series features women who wrote on their own terms, with boldness, creativity, and a spirit of resistance.
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Modern Library Torchbearers Series

Narrative of Sojourner Truth
Nothing Grows by Moonlight
Find Him!
Plum Bun
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
The House of Madelaine
I Am Clarence
Lolly Willowes
The Princess of 72nd Street
Quicksand
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About the Author

Elaine Kraf
Elaine Kraf (1936-2013) was a writer and painter. She was the author of four published works of fiction: I Am Clarence (1969), The House of Madelaine (1971), Find Him! (1977), and The Princess of 72nd Street (1979)—as well as several unpublished novels, plays, and poetry collections. She was the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts awards, a 1971 fellowship at the Broad Loaf Writers’ Conference, and a 1977 residency at Yaddo. She was born and lived in New York City. More by Elaine Kraf
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About the Author

Violet Kupersmith
Violet Kupersmith is the author of the short story collection The Frangipani Hotel. She previously taught English with the Fulbright program in the Mekong Delta and was a creative writing fellow at the University of East Anglia. She has lived in Da Lat and Saigon in Vietnam, and currently resides in the United States. More by Violet Kupersmith
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