A Nest of Ninnies

James Schuyler and I began writing A Nest of Ninnies purely by chance," writes John Ashbery in his new introduction to this classic of American comic fiction. "We were in a car being driven by the young cameraman, Harrison Starr, with his father as a passenger in the front seat . . . Jimmy said, 'Why don't we write a novel?' And how do we do that, I asked. 'It's easy—you write the first line,' was his reply." The result is one of the strangest and most exuberant experiments in American literary history, a verbal tour de force of suburban Americana. First published in 1969, A Nest of Ninnies is a true gem-in-the-rough, the decades-long collaborative project from two of the great poetic minds of the twentieth century.

Arde

"My! What a pleasant surprise to read a novel in which there is not a single bedroom scene...More extraordinary still, though many of the characters live in surburbia they all seem, believe it or not, to be happy." -- New York Times Book Review

American poets, playwrights, and novelists, both John Ashbery (b. 1927) and James Schuyler (1923-1991) are often associated with the New York school of poets. Ashbery has won nearly every major American award for poetry, including a Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the National Book Award. A former Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets, Ashbery is currently the Charles P. Stevenson, Jr., Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College. He divides his time between New York City and Hudson, New York. Schuyler also received a Pulitzer Prize for his poetry, as well as a Longview Foundation Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship.