Memoirs of Hecate County

Memoirs of Hecate County is a work of fiction by Edmund Wilson, first published in 1946, but banned in the state of New York until 1959, when it was reissued with minor revisions by the author.

The unnamed narrator befriends a neighbor of his, Asa M. Stryker who is fascinated by ducks who frequent a pond on his property and is disgusted by the snapping turtles which prey on them.

The unnamed narrator pays a visit to Ellen Terhune, a talented composer whose husband is leaving her after a long and unhappy marriage.

After an aimless summer spent pursuing Imogen, the narrator decides to write a book and moves to New York City where he meets a beautiful Ukrainian immigrant named Anna Lenihan and begins an affair with her.

Imogen re-enters the narrator's life and eventually reveals that her reluctance to be sexual stems from a chronic back injury.

Moving back to Hecate County he realizes that he should have focused more on Anna but is nevertheless drawn to his old habits and old society.

The Milhollands and Their Damned Soul The narrator, on the verge of publishing a book, reacquaints himself with the Milhollands, a family of scholars who reinvent themselves as book critics and publishers and who continue to peddle increasingly mediocre works to the masses, evading scandal and making money at every turn.

Mr and Mrs Blackburn at Home The narrator contemplates leaving Hecate County and marrying his wealthy lover.

Memoirs of Hecate County was deemed obscene due to a single one of the short stories and not the entire book.