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Wit Paperback – 31 March 2000

by Margaret Edson (Author)

63

A striking and sharply funny reflection on the frailty of existence and the complex relationship between knowledge and love. Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Vivian Bearing, Ph.D., a renowned specialist in the brilliantly difficult Holy Sonnets of John Donne, has been diagnosed with stage four metastatic ovarian cancer. Her approach to her illness is not unlike her approach to Donne: aggressively probing and intensely rational.

But during the course of her illness – and her stint as a prize patient in an experimental chemotherapy programme – she comes to reassess her life and her work with profundity and an unbearably moving wry humour.

Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit was first performed in 1995. It was filmed for TV by Mike Nichols in 2001, starring Emma Thompson (who also wrote the screenplay).

'Cuts deep… a coruscating metaphor for all our helpless efforts to orchestrate our lives, despite our awareness of our mortality' ― The Times

'Delightfully funny and deeply moving… its final radiant moment is breathtaking' ― Independent

'Truly wonderful – emotionally battering, yes, but very funny, never mawkish and ultimately exultant' ― Telegraph

'Edson's writing has its harrowing moments but it is never maudlin… A genuinely life-enhancing play about death ― Guardian

'Heart-battering... as glorious and cathartic as theatre gets' ― The Stage

'An original and urgent work of art. Among the finest plays of the decade' ― Wall Street Journal

'A dazzling and humane play you will remember until your dying day' ― New York Magazine

Pulitzer Prize for Drama

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Print length

56 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Nick Hern Books
Publication date

31 March 2000
Dimensions

12.9 x 0.6 x 19.9 cm
ISBN-10

1854594583
ISBN-13

978-1854594587
See all details

Margaret Edson
698
Paperback
17 offers from $20.64

Product description

Review

'Cuts deep… a coruscating metaphor for all our helpless efforts to orchestrate our lives, despite our awareness of our mortality'

― The Times

'Delightfully funny and deeply moving… its final radiant moment is breathtaking'

― Independent

'Truly wonderful – emotionally battering, yes, but very funny, never mawkish and ultimately exultant'

― Telegraph

'Edson's writing has its harrowing moments but it is never maudlin… A genuinely life-enhancing play about death

― Guardian

'Heart-battering... as glorious and cathartic as theatre gets'

― The Stage

'An original and urgent work of art. Among the finest plays of the decade'

― Wall Street Journal

'A dazzling and humane play you will remember until your dying day'

― New York Magazine

'A brutally human and beautifully layered new play. You will feel both enlightened and, in a strange way, enormously comforted'

― New York Times

About the Author

Margaret Edson lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is an elementary school teacher. Between earning degrees in history and literature, she worked in the cancer and AIDS unit of a research hospital. Wit, her first play, won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Nick Hern Books (31 March 2000)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 56 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1854594583
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1854594587
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.9 x 0.6 x 19.9 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 322,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 81 in Children's Dramas & Plays
- 149 in Dramas & Plays by Women
- 8,285 in Performing Arts (Books)

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63

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Top review from Australia

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KTPcat

Very touching, it had me in tears. Vivian ...

Reviewed in Australia on 5 June 2015

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Very touching, it had me in tears. Vivian is an intellectual, dying of cancer. Her life has been devoted to academic study and teaching without time for emotion and compassion. As she awaits her death, in ever increasing pain and dependence on others she rethinks her life and attitudes especially with regards to the religious poetry of Donne. A former student of hers becomes her doctor. He is only interested in medical research and not the patients in the same way she neglected the wider needs of her students. She wishes he could take more interest in her as a person just as she realized she failed to do that for her students.

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Manon

Reading easy

Reviewed in France on 2 January 2021

Verified Purchase

It was easy to read and the text is clear but I deplore the absence of a visible separatioj between scenes.

Dr. Manjit Tendolkar

A play based on the final days of life.

Reviewed in India on 22 November 2020

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Vivian - A poetry scholar. Facing her own death as the doors close one by one while her poignant memories flash giving an insight into the present. It’s a little Play. Thoughtful.

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on 13 December 2016

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Great book in great condition

Amazon Customer

Self-serving, self-promoting Wimp!

Reviewed in the United States on 21 September 2016

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If there were negative stars, this would get all of them! The worst of self-serving, self-promoting, narcissistic crock! Dares to ride on the literary shoulders of Donne! Ugh! Spoils Donne for me forever! Unforgivable! Social criticism ought to have the courage to stand on its legs! Not hiding behind the voluminous skirts of the most famous Metaphydica Poet!

One person found this helpful

Woman in a hurry

A stunning play and a great read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 February 2005

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The fact that this play doesn't have an interval adds to an overwhelming sense of pressure running throughout. It's nailbiting, gripping stuff, with an unlikeable heroine and even more unlikeable sub-characters (Dr Bearing's nurse Suzie aside).
Not just an exploration of cancer, but an examination of the soul and the need to let down one's guard and allow human kindness to support you, Margaret Edson fully deserved every accolade she got for this powerful and stunning play.
A must-read that works extremely well on stage - directors should give this one a look and if you enjoyed, say, Flowers for Algernon, or appreciate a well-written, cleverly plotted read, this should be on your wishlist pronto.

2 people found this helpful

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Wit Paperback – 31 March 2000

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