I Am Clarence

Name: I Am Clarence
Brand: Penguin Random House NZ
SKU: 9780241766859
Price: 26.0 NZD
Availability: InStock

By Elaine Kraf

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Brief Description

A haunting novel exploring a mother's fierce love for her disabled son as she grapples with her own mental health, by the author of the feminist cult classic The Princess of 72nd Street. For Clarence's mother, life revolves around her young son; she takes him to... Read More

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I Am Clarence

$26⁰⁰

Description

A haunting novel exploring a mother's fierce love for her disabled son as she grapples with her own mental health, by the author of the feminist cult classic The Princess of 72nd Street.

For Clarence's mother, life revolves around her young son; she takes him to see specialists to find the cause of his blindness and developmental delays, protects him from the cruelty of other children, and loves him tenderly. But she has her own struggles too. Her sanity is precarious and fractured, making caregiving increasingly difficult.

When her mental health reaches a breaking point, she checks herself into an institution so that she can get better and, she tells herself, be a better mother to Clarence. As she is forced to decide between his well-being and hers, Elaine Kraf poses the essential question—can a mother's love for her child soothe her own emotional upheaval? How much can she sacrifice for her son?

Through this unforgettable journey into one woman's mind and relationships, Kraf paints a harrowing portrait of motherhood which remains timely and inventive over fifty years after its initial publication.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780241766859

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 10 July 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 13.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 129.0mm

Weight: 170g

Pages: 224

Collections

Elaine Kraf Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Penguin Books Penguin Classics

About the Author

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 (1977) and The Princess of 72nd Street (1979)-as well as several unpublished novels, plays and poetry collections.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.

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The Princess of 72nd Street

The feminist cult classic about a smart, sensitive, yet deeply troubled young woman fighting to live on her own terms. Ellen is a single artist living alone on New York's Upper West Side in the 1970s. She is beset by old boyfriends, paint pigment choices, and, occasionally, by 'radiances'—episodes of joyous, reckless unreality. Under the influence of 'radiances,' she becomes...

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I Am Clarence

I Am Clarence is a haunting novel exploring a mother's fierce love for her disabled son as she grapples with her own mental health, by the author of the feminist cult classic The Princess of 72nd Street. According to Dr. Hovenclock, health meant wanting things. What would I have to pretend to want before he would let me leave? I...

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