Maeve Brennan

In a mock obituary from the 1950s, Brennan described herself as heartsick and drunk.
"Perhaps the reason Brennan wrote so well about waifs — about the shabby tall men and Mrs. Bagots of the world, about everyone who gets stuck outside our lives — was that she felt herself fated to join their ranks. There are people who believe themselves to be invulnerable, and there are people who worry that their livelihood and dignity could go up in smoke at any minute. In their fear of failure, they seem almost to court it. To see the abyss is to take the first step towards it."