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Carson McCullers: Un Coeur de Jeune Fille
La première véritable biographie publiée en France d'un auteur à la fois très célèbre (Le Coeur est un chasseur solitaire) et très mal connu. Et pourtant quel roman que sa vie. Elle forma le plus étrange des couples littéraires avec son époux, Reeves McCullers, un couple dévasté par des rêves impossibles et d'implacables réalités que l'alcool ne réussit jamais à masquer.
516 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 20, 2016
Savigneau's biography is a great introduction to the life and writing of Carson McCullers. The book follows a logical timeline and tries to explore different angles of McCullers' personality. However, there are some questions that I have acquired from reading McCullers' works that are not addressed or are only glanced at, and this describes one of the problems I have with this biography.
Much of my interest in McCullers is derived from her writing, and while Savigneau's book is a solid biography, it didn't go deep enough into McCullers' work for my taste.
The second problem I have with the book is that it is now out-dated. The book was originally published in 1995 (28 years after McCullers' death) and one would have thought that enough research into her life and writing would have been done by 1995, but not so.
McCullers own, tho unfinished, autobiography Illuminations and Night Glare was not published until 1999, and there is at least one other book (Schwarzenbach's Das Wunder des Baums / The Miracle of the Tree) that is referred to in Savigneau's work that was published after this biography.
Still, this is a good basic reference to McCullers' life and work.
Much of my interest in McCullers is derived from her writing, and while Savigneau's book is a solid biography, it didn't go deep enough into McCullers' work for my taste.
The second problem I have with the book is that it is now out-dated. The book was originally published in 1995 (28 years after McCullers' death) and one would have thought that enough research into her life and writing would have been done by 1995, but not so.
McCullers own, tho unfinished, autobiography Illuminations and Night Glare was not published until 1999, and there is at least one other book (Schwarzenbach's Das Wunder des Baums / The Miracle of the Tree) that is referred to in Savigneau's work that was published after this biography.
Still, this is a good basic reference to McCullers' life and work.
August 7, 2011
By all accounts Carson McCullers was a complicated woman. Opinions of her personal life tend to be curiously polarized so that her acquaintences portray her either as an angel with gossamer wings or else a despotic bitch.
Mme. Savigneau endeavors with this biography to present an apologia for Ms. McCullers. Yes, Carson could be at times an alcoholic wretch. But, as Savigneau rightly points out, Ms. McCullers was part of a generation of hard-drinking enfant teribles from the South. Substance abuse was part of being a writer at the time. If Carson was a pariah, or was narcissistic or self-destructive then she was in good company with Truman Capote and her personal friend and mentor Tennesee Williams. Mme. Savigneau posits that Carson was a remarkably progressive woman for her time, and as such she was misunderstood, and continues to be misunderstood by her critics.
The "Carson is so great" tone of the book got a little old after two hundred pages or so. This is not an objective biography. At times it felt like I was reading a giant fan letter written from Savigneau to her subject.
* * *
I picked up this biography to learn more about the twenty-three year old author who penned the most beautiful book I have read this year, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. What I learned is that Carson grew up to become the cliche of the Unhappy Author: suicidal, sick, neurotic, chasing her problems to the bottom of a bottle. I am currently reading a biography of John Cheever, and I find the fates of these apparently disparate writers to be sadly similar: constantly drunk, desperate, self-absorbed, locked into destructive relationships.
I set down this book wondering if this is the inevitable plight of the serious artist. Is there any way to create a masterpiece without sacrificing your sanity, not to mention the sanity of your friends and family? Does the pursuit of greatness ultimately end in destruction?
Blerg. I will now go out happily into the afternoon sunshine to purge myself of the raincloud that this book left in my brain.
Mme. Savigneau endeavors with this biography to present an apologia for Ms. McCullers. Yes, Carson could be at times an alcoholic wretch. But, as Savigneau rightly points out, Ms. McCullers was part of a generation of hard-drinking enfant teribles from the South. Substance abuse was part of being a writer at the time. If Carson was a pariah, or was narcissistic or self-destructive then she was in good company with Truman Capote and her personal friend and mentor Tennesee Williams. Mme. Savigneau posits that Carson was a remarkably progressive woman for her time, and as such she was misunderstood, and continues to be misunderstood by her critics.
The "Carson is so great" tone of the book got a little old after two hundred pages or so. This is not an objective biography. At times it felt like I was reading a giant fan letter written from Savigneau to her subject.
* * *
I picked up this biography to learn more about the twenty-three year old author who penned the most beautiful book I have read this year, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. What I learned is that Carson grew up to become the cliche of the Unhappy Author: suicidal, sick, neurotic, chasing her problems to the bottom of a bottle. I am currently reading a biography of John Cheever, and I find the fates of these apparently disparate writers to be sadly similar: constantly drunk, desperate, self-absorbed, locked into destructive relationships.
I set down this book wondering if this is the inevitable plight of the serious artist. Is there any way to create a masterpiece without sacrificing your sanity, not to mention the sanity of your friends and family? Does the pursuit of greatness ultimately end in destruction?
Blerg. I will now go out happily into the afternoon sunshine to purge myself of the raincloud that this book left in my brain.
June 13, 2011
A compact, smooth-reading look at the author's life. Perhaps that the author is French made her more tolerant of McCullers' ruinous eccentricities and admiring not only of her talent, but also of her courage and fierce productiveness in the face of devastating (misdiagnosed) illness. Presented and countered previous biographers' almost spiteful assumptions that McCullers' genius was impossible--that it was in part borrowed (from her husband and/or friends like Tennessee Williams) and that she wasn't just difficult to relate to, but almost monstrous. Interesting to see how her life intersected with that of other artists, and the impact of WWII on her milieu. Made me want to re-read McCullers' books, which I read as a teenager.
November 1, 2012
By far, the best biography of Carson McCullers out there.
May 12, 2023
This was magnificent. Josyane Savigneau is the best friend Carson McCullers never knew. She respects, defends and shines light on Carson throughout the book. I looked at Josyane's photograph and she appears as someone not to be messed with. She questions both criticisms of Carson and critics. As an example: "..certain accounts opine that Carson McCullers had received"disproportionate praise." the expression is a commonplace of conformist criticism." Ouch. And " D.S. Savage-the classic figure of a critic impressed with his own self-importance." Again,ouch.
She (Savigneau) does solid detective work with lapidary precision a phrase only capable of being used by her or William F. Buckley.I would be very interested in reading about how she researched and developed her work and also about the incredible translation by Joan E Howard. I was astounded by the phraseology, for example she uses the word marginalized without political implications.
Carson McCullers has been on my tbr for decades. I'm now ashamed to say that I haven't read any of her books. That changes immediately. I will read her biography again.
She (Savigneau) does solid detective work with lapidary precision a phrase only capable of being used by her or William F. Buckley.I would be very interested in reading about how she researched and developed her work and also about the incredible translation by Joan E Howard. I was astounded by the phraseology, for example she uses the word marginalized without political implications.
Carson McCullers has been on my tbr for decades. I'm now ashamed to say that I haven't read any of her books. That changes immediately. I will read her biography again.
July 29, 2012
At the beginning of this biography is a statement by Carson McCullers' French editor, Andre Bay. "No one has captured as she did the vast American sense of loneliness, and the suffering it causes..." The quote brought up a lot of discussion at a book club meeting for "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," and it made me even more curious about the writer. Most in the book club were at least confused by the quote, and the most strongly expressed emotion was that of denial. I admit that the quote intrigues me and that I turn over several interpretations in my mind.
The quote is explained by reading the rest of the biography. The idea of an "American loneliness" was Carson's, and she expressed it more than once in interviews and writings. She may have been speaking solely about herself, but she appeared to feel that she was not the only one who knew about this feeling. Certainly her characters knew this loneliness, and Carson's words about it help explain her books to me.
While I'm not sure I could be one of those who became one of Carson's great friends, I am glad to know more about a writer whose books have always fascinated me, even as I realized I didn't quite understand them (reading them over helps, as well as being older - even though she was quite young when she wrote most of them).
This version of Carson's life was written by a Frenchwoman and translated into English. It appears that one of Savigneau's goals was to revise the impressions left by previous biographers, especially Virginia Spencer Carr. Here's what Savigneau has to say about Carr: "Virginia Spencer Carr shows little warmth - much less tenderness or compassion - for her subject, who, visibly, shocks her puritanism and moralism."
Savigneau does show warmth and compassion for her subject, even as that subject sometimes displays what to me is irrational and/or annoying behavior. As I said, I would probably not become one of this writer's great friends.
Her life is a life that is foreign to me, as her novels ultimately are. I think that is what I most like about them - they show me what I don't know about my own country and people - possibly what I am not willing to look at - and keep me thinking long after I am finished with the book.
The quote is explained by reading the rest of the biography. The idea of an "American loneliness" was Carson's, and she expressed it more than once in interviews and writings. She may have been speaking solely about herself, but she appeared to feel that she was not the only one who knew about this feeling. Certainly her characters knew this loneliness, and Carson's words about it help explain her books to me.
While I'm not sure I could be one of those who became one of Carson's great friends, I am glad to know more about a writer whose books have always fascinated me, even as I realized I didn't quite understand them (reading them over helps, as well as being older - even though she was quite young when she wrote most of them).
This version of Carson's life was written by a Frenchwoman and translated into English. It appears that one of Savigneau's goals was to revise the impressions left by previous biographers, especially Virginia Spencer Carr. Here's what Savigneau has to say about Carr: "Virginia Spencer Carr shows little warmth - much less tenderness or compassion - for her subject, who, visibly, shocks her puritanism and moralism."
Savigneau does show warmth and compassion for her subject, even as that subject sometimes displays what to me is irrational and/or annoying behavior. As I said, I would probably not become one of this writer's great friends.
Her life is a life that is foreign to me, as her novels ultimately are. I think that is what I most like about them - they show me what I don't know about my own country and people - possibly what I am not willing to look at - and keep me thinking long after I am finished with the book.
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January 5, 2020mark passed this along to me after passing me heart, and i read it across 2019 with breaks. i didn't know i needed to know this much.
the highlight was the house in brooklyn with the mann children which sent me on a side journey to acknowledge that they have ancestors in the claassenstraße cemetery with ours. i hope to return to my writing soon.
the highlight was the house in brooklyn with the mann children which sent me on a side journey to acknowledge that they have ancestors in the claassenstraße cemetery with ours. i hope to return to my writing soon.
September 25, 2022
I found this an excellent and very moving book. Carson McCullers was by the standard's of the time was a very unconventional woman and I think may have been unjustly critised by some of her biographers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 6, 2019
Excellent account of McCullers' life. Accurate and honest...leaving me disliking Carson but fascinated by her extraordinary life.
February 9, 2023
3.5/5
A very good introductory work that only begins to scratch the surface of this wonderful author's life + work.
A very good introductory work that only begins to scratch the surface of this wonderful author's life + work.
March 7, 2024
Une biographie maladroite d'une autrice légendaire qui a traversé le monde des lettres nord-américaines comme un météore. Je suis reconnaissante à cette biographie d'en retracer la trajectoire mais j'ai trouvé maladroits les interventions de la biographe elle-même dans le texte, le ton de ce livre qui essaie désespérément de rendre normale une figure qui clairement n'est jamais rentrée dans le moule social ou littéraire de son époque.
January 5, 2013
I'm torn between my impulse to enjoy the insight into McCullers' life, which is rich and vivd, and the overall faults of the biography - clunky translations in my edition, the need of the author to rush to the defense of Carson's at times anti-social behavior, and overly long passages which seem to wind on - in particular, I found the re-courtship between Reeves and Carson throughout the war to be an entirely too long passage. So while I feel like I gained insight from the biography, I also feel left wanting overall on the execution.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews