Sleepless Nights

Partly based on her own life, American author and literary critic Elizabeth Hardwick’s novel Sleepless Nights (1979) follows a woman in late middle age, similarly named Elizabeth, who reflects on the relationships she has had throughout life. These narrative threads—many of which are now finished as some people have passed away—cross through her birthplace, Lexington, Kentucky, Amsterdam, where she lived as a young adult, and New England, where she has lived ever since. The novel frames Elizabeth’s memories as making up one large, transcendental lesson. Prominent themes include the natural tendency to revise or misremember memories, the unpredictability of fate, and the difficulty of modern relationships.

The novel begins when Elizabeth is a little girl. A middle child of nine, she grows up in a chaotic household. Her parents, horseracing enthusiasts, try to instill this same love for equestrian sports in their children. Their favorite event each year is the Kentucky Derby. While Elizabeth is growing up, she tragically loses two of her brothers to horse racing accidents; thereafter, the sport evokes strong feelings of ambivalence in Elizabeth and several of her siblings. Growing up, Elizabeth relates most strongly to her father. Her mother seems aloof and too willing to accept the injustices of the world, traits that frustrate but also intrigue Elizabeth greatly. Even after becoming an adult and moving out, Elizabeth wishes she knew more about her mother. She expresses this desire in a number of letters written to her friend, “M.”

After a stint in New York, where she joins the Communist movement and has a string of bad boyfriends, Elizabeth moves to Amsterdam with a new lover. She spends her first summer in Europe observing a Dutchman, whom she calls “Dr. Z.” Dr. Z is in the midst of a three-way affair between his wife and two other women. After juggling these relationships, two of the women leave him, and only his wife remains. Elizabeth eventually breaks up with her boyfriend and returns to New York, where she falls in love with jazz music, especially that of Billie Holliday. She has a relationship with her gay roommate, J, which never moves beyond an emotional intimacy. At the same time, neither of them denies that J is gay. Elizabeth has a fling with Alex, a man who seems just as unwilling as she is to settle down. Elizabeth notes that Alex goes on resisting intimacy until old age. For several months, Elizabeth boards with a number of other single women, holding out for romantic and career opportunities that might never come.



The plot moves closer to the present day. Elizabeth has mostly given up on her fantasies about the exciting life she hoped to someday live; she spends her time moving between Boston, New York, and Maine. Yet, she develops a more mature perspective on what it means to live a good life; she becomes fascinated with the orderly, industrious lives of cleaning women. She feels a strong impulse to record her past in order to illuminate the meaning she has missed. It is implied that this Elizabeth is the author and that Sleepless Nights is the product of her writing endeavor.