Elaine Kraf’s character, the narrator of the book “The Princess of 72nd Street”, said she was told by medical staff she had manic-depression, but she called it radiance. She felt radiance and that was why she called it as such.

The narrator Ellen said:

“They want ne to believe that a radiance follows some terrible rejection or loss of self-esteem and is some kind of defensive device creating chemical changesand loss of boundaries.”

(Kraf, p. 4)

Kraf writes that the medical staff are wrong because “there is no pattern” to explain when her radiance comes.

My favorite quotes in the early part of the book “The Princess of 72nd Street” :

The narrator said men

“Or ignoring my beauty, which is being appreciated by men with other women, he will leer at a poster, at a girl in torn jeans, at anything and everything.”

(Kraf, p. 9)

Not all men will leer at other women who are not their wives. Inevitably, some men will.

Her generalizations do not mean that her statements are always correct and set in stone.

“Any woman who breaks up a marriage by enticing or bewitching a married man should be exiled.”

(Kraf, p. 10)

Having written all that, the narrator admits that she is also guilty of sleeping with married men. She said,

“Often they were lame or having a nervous breakdown or extraordinarily persuasive.”

(Kraf, p. 12)

This novel is about the Princess’s friendships and relationships with men.

Related:

The Princess of 72nd Street, by Elaine Kraf.

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