The Crazy Ladies (1969), The Goddess Hangup (1970)
Joyce Elbert (February 26, 1930 - May 8, 2009) was an American writer. She was the author of ten published novels and a collection of memoirs.
Life and career
Elbert was born in the Bronx, New York City, on February 26, 1930, the only child of Melba and Charles Krimmer,[1] an Austrian immigrant whose once-thriving dress manufacturing company went bankrupt during the Great Depression.[2] She attended New York City's Christopher Columbus High School (Bronx)[3] and Hunter College, from which she received a bachelor of arts degree in Journalism in 1952.[4]
In 1958, Elbert was one of the founding editors of the Provincetown Review,[5] a literary magazine for which author Norman Mailer served as advisor. Her first novel, the semi-autobiographical Getting Rid of Richard, was completed in 1959[6] although it didn't see publication until 1972. Her 1969 novel, The Crazy Ladies, was dubbed "the first really great dirty book" by Cosmopolitan magazine.[7] By 1980, more than 5,000,000 copies of her books were in print worldwide,[8] including translations into Spanish, French, and German.
Elbert's last published novel, The Return of the Crazy Ladies, was released in 1984. She died on May 8, 2009, in Volusia, Florida,[9] of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), leaving behind at least seven unpublished novels, as well as several short stories and autobiographical essays.
Works
Novels
A Martini on the Other Table (1963) Signet
The Crazy Ladies (1969) New American Library
The Goddess Hangup (1970) World Publishing Group
Getting Rid of Richard (1972) Arbor House
Drunk in Madrid (1972) Arbor House
The Three of Us (1973) Arbor House
The Crazy Lovers (1976) Rawson, Wade
A Very Cagey Lady (1980) Signet
Red Eye Blues (1981) Signet
The Return of the Crazy Ladies (1984) Signet
Memoirs
A Tale of Five Cities & Other Memoirs (2022) Tough Poets Press
Notes
^"Joyce Krimmer", United States census, 1930; Bronx, New York, United States; roll 1468, page 2A, line 50, enumeration district 160, Family History film 2341203, National Archives film number T626. Retrieved on June 6, 2022.
^Elbert, Joyce (2022). A Tale of Five Cities & Other Memoirs. Arlington, MA: Tough Poets Press. p. 5.
^Weisman, John (May 1969). "Book review: The Crazy Ladies". FM & Fine Arts. Beverly Hills, CA: Macro/Comm Corporation. p. 41.