Great Regulars: [Hortense] Calisher, the author of more than 20 books,

was a three-time nominee for the National Book Award and a four-time winner of the O. Henry Prize for the short story. Several works, notably "In Greenwich . . . ," have been anthologized.

Like Marcel Proust and Henry James, the writers to whom she was most often compared, Calisher composed in the thick, quantum rhythms of the mind. Her sentences were long, her language complex and her story lines often elusive.

"I do know that in the novel, I feel free to digress," Calisher told the Associated Press in 1998.

from Hillel Italie: Associated Press: Prize-winning writer Hortense Calisher dies at 97

~~~~~~~~~~~