Operators and Things

Operators and Things: The Inner Life of a Schizophrenic

First edition cover
Author	Anonymous; published under the pen name Barbara O'Brien
Language	English
Genre	Autobiography
Publisher	Arlington Books
Publication date	1958
Publication place	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Pages	166 pp. (first edition)
ISBN	978-0-615-50928-0
OCLC	1336334671
Dewey Decimal	616.8
LC Class	58-8397

Operators and Things: The Inner Life of a Schizophrenic is a 1958 autobiographical account of a woman's experience with the onset and recovery from schizophrenia, published anonymously under the pen name Barbara O'Brien.

Published by Arlington Books, the book follows the author as she wakes up to see three gray and wispy figures in front of her bed, whom she calls "operators", the same name as she gives to those in her professional life who manipulate others for their own gain. The figures take her on a journey across the United States, where she eventually sees a psychoanalyst. The book was reviewed in a number of publications, with Robert Kirsch describing it as "a work of brilliance and power, evoking a combination of Kafka and Joyce, with a touch of Orwell".