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Dawn Powell: A Biography
In Dawn Powell: A Biography, Tim Page explores the fascinating ironies and sad complexities of Powell's life and work. Gore Vidal once referred to her as our best comic novelist, deserving to be as widely read as Hemingway and Fitzgerald. This biography is a celebration of her triumphant rise from the ashes of near oblivion to her establishment among the giants of twentieth-century American literature. Dawn Powell lived in New York City for forty-seven years but always maintained the perspective of a "permanent visitor." She distilled this into her many poems, stories, articles, plays, and her dizzying and inventive novels.
362 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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About the author
Tim Page
34 books14 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Tim Page is the author of Dawn Powell: A Biography and the editor of The Diaries of Dawn Powell and Selected Letters of Dawn Powell
He won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for his music criticism for the The Washington Post.
Tim Page is the author of Dawn Powell: A Biography and the editor of The Diaries of Dawn Powell and Selected Letters of Dawn Powell
He won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for his music criticism for the The Washington Post.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 5, 2023
A well-organized and humane biography of an essentially minor writer. Tim Page uses diaries, letters, and interviews judiciously. He also does what Michael Snyder doesn't do in his biography of James Purdy that I finished a few days ago: speculate on and examine the interior life of his subject, from Powell's beginning in ohio to her last days as she knew she was dying. It's to a reader's benefit that he does. Recommended.
(Page would later, among other things, edit the diaries for publication and also the Library of America's 2-volume edition of Powell's novels.)
(Page would later, among other things, edit the diaries for publication and also the Library of America's 2-volume edition of Powell's novels.)
October 12, 2013
Dawn Powell was a writer who was not a member of Enrique Vila-Matas's "Writers of the No." For she wrote and wrote and was never undaunted by bad reviews and the modest financial gains she had had with her novels.
This biography has an intriguing beginning: a description of the New York Cemetery on Hart Island, unknown to most New Yorkers, accessible only by a restricted ferry. It is a public burial ground of the unknown/unidentified corpses, the impoverished dead, lost vagrants pulled from their sleeping bags in rigor mortis, miscarried babies, corpses dredged up from the Hudson River, the dead without any living relatives, and the like.
Dawn Powell's remains were buried here in the springtime of 1970, almost five years after her death. She who had written a lot, achieved some modest fame in her lifetime, and who was a friend or acquiantance to the likes of John Dos Passos, Edmund Wilson, Hannah Green, Ernest Hemingway and Dorothy Parker.
Gore Vidal says she was one of America's most brilliant, and the most witty, novelists whose literary reputation continues to grow long after her death. I don't know, since I haven't read any of her novels. But I found one one day, at Booksle, which I would not have bought (despite its cheap price) had I not known this author through this excellent biography.
This biography has an intriguing beginning: a description of the New York Cemetery on Hart Island, unknown to most New Yorkers, accessible only by a restricted ferry. It is a public burial ground of the unknown/unidentified corpses, the impoverished dead, lost vagrants pulled from their sleeping bags in rigor mortis, miscarried babies, corpses dredged up from the Hudson River, the dead without any living relatives, and the like.
Dawn Powell's remains were buried here in the springtime of 1970, almost five years after her death. She who had written a lot, achieved some modest fame in her lifetime, and who was a friend or acquiantance to the likes of John Dos Passos, Edmund Wilson, Hannah Green, Ernest Hemingway and Dorothy Parker.
Gore Vidal says she was one of America's most brilliant, and the most witty, novelists whose literary reputation continues to grow long after her death. I don't know, since I haven't read any of her novels. But I found one one day, at Booksle, which I would not have bought (despite its cheap price) had I not known this author through this excellent biography.
March 23, 2017
A friend of mine recommended that I try reading Dawn Powell (1896-1965), an Ohio born author, and in the meantime let me borrow this biography about her life. I went from knowing nothing about her except the names of some of her works to adding several of her books to my already mountainous tbr.
February 2, 2025
I love to read about writers, and this book met my expectations. She was an interesting character!
February 4, 2019
Tim Page engages readers from the prologue where he informs us of Dawn Powell’s burial in a pauper’s grave five years after her death. He promises to tell us the “implausible story” of how she got there, compelling us to read on.
We have Page to thank for wresting control of Powell’s papers from her overmatched executor and bringing them to Columbia University, ultimately leading to renewed interest and republication of Powell’s work.
In between the prologue and the afterward is the story of the life of a midwestern woman who determined early on to write, and write on the the biggest stage of all: New York City. Despite poverty, an alcoholic husband, an autistic son, and her own probable alcoholism and other health issues, Dawn Powell wrote because she couldn’t not write. Inspiring.
We have Page to thank for wresting control of Powell’s papers from her overmatched executor and bringing them to Columbia University, ultimately leading to renewed interest and republication of Powell’s work.
In between the prologue and the afterward is the story of the life of a midwestern woman who determined early on to write, and write on the the biggest stage of all: New York City. Despite poverty, an alcoholic husband, an autistic son, and her own probable alcoholism and other health issues, Dawn Powell wrote because she couldn’t not write. Inspiring.
March 1, 2021
Dawn Powell was a fascinating personality. She overcame so many hardships in her life, was able to publish an incredible amount of novels, articles, short stories, etc. and always found the humor in the most trying of circumstances. I am looking forward to reading her novels. She is the most prolific novelist you have never heard of. I am immersed in her canon because of an interview I watched with Fran Leibowitz, who celebrated Dawn Powell in an essay in “Unknown Geniuses”.
July 31, 2021
Superb.
December 26, 2023
A great peek into the New York Literary world of the 1900's. Now I want to read The Gilded Age. I found the book a little over wrought in places, but glad to know more about Dawn Powell.
October 30, 2025
It’s here after reading most of her work that I found out her two favorite books were
1. Sentimental Education
2. Dead Souls.
My two favorite books.
Soul mate.
1. Sentimental Education
2. Dead Souls.
My two favorite books.
Soul mate.
May 4, 2020
Biography. Reading this well researched and written bio filled in the wholes about the author I admire.
February 6, 2014
Tim Page has done an excellent job of introducing Dawn Powell to readers. Powell, a Village fixture for 40 odd years, was a largely forgotten writer but interest in her work has been renewed thanks to the efforts of people like Gore Vidal and Tim Page. Most of her best books are readily available both in print and electronically.
Powell was basically a nice Ohio girl from a not-so-nice family who moved to New York City and made it. She may not have quite made it big, but she made it nonetheless. Her circle of friends and acquaintances included notables from art, literary, and theatrical circles. She married once, for life, but this did not preclude some amorous adventures although Page does not dwell on her sex life. She had one child, an autistic son born before the diagnosis of autism existed. In addition, her husband was an alcoholic and she was plagued with health issue such as a teratoma in her chest. She remained close to her sisters and other relatives in Ohio until her death, but she never felt quite at home anywhere but NYC. She gave a speech at her college alma mater in which she advised the young women to leap before they looked because if you look than you never leap. I kind of wish I had read those words 30 years ago.
Since I first heard of Powell, I have read a few of her books and really enjoyed them. With her wit and bon mots, it's rather astounding that Dorothy Parker eclipsed her in fame.
Powell was basically a nice Ohio girl from a not-so-nice family who moved to New York City and made it. She may not have quite made it big, but she made it nonetheless. Her circle of friends and acquaintances included notables from art, literary, and theatrical circles. She married once, for life, but this did not preclude some amorous adventures although Page does not dwell on her sex life. She had one child, an autistic son born before the diagnosis of autism existed. In addition, her husband was an alcoholic and she was plagued with health issue such as a teratoma in her chest. She remained close to her sisters and other relatives in Ohio until her death, but she never felt quite at home anywhere but NYC. She gave a speech at her college alma mater in which she advised the young women to leap before they looked because if you look than you never leap. I kind of wish I had read those words 30 years ago.
Since I first heard of Powell, I have read a few of her books and really enjoyed them. With her wit and bon mots, it's rather astounding that Dorothy Parker eclipsed her in fame.
March 8, 2010
Great book about a great author from Mt. Gilead, OH, (near my hometown). Lots of Morrow County detail in the beginning and all sorts of literary name-dropping at the end. Can't wait to read more Dawn Powell. I have become a little obsessed.
September 10, 2012
Fascinating look into the life of a now obscure writer. This caught my interest when I read the story of Tim Page's attempts to sell his collection of Powell's papers. Even though I did this backwards and read the bio first, I'm intrigued enough to add Powell's novel's to my reading list.
April 1, 2015
I wouldn't have liked Dawn Powell, (not that it matters) but I admire her spirit, and Tim Page's research.
June 12, 2012
An excellent book! One of the most fascinating authors and people I never heard of before.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews