The brief life and meteoric career of Sylvia Plath have been the subject of fascination since her suicide in 1963 at age thirty. This concise, well-researched biography recounts the facts of her troubled life based on the latest updated research. Biographer Connie Ann Kirk has consulted the Plath archives at Smith College and the University of Indiana--Bloomington, as well as Plath's unabridged journals published in 2000. She has also interviewed a Plath contemporary who knew her.
What emerges is a balanced portrait that takes a neutral stance between the divided factions in the blame game surrounding her suicide. Kirk describes the outrage directed against Plath's estranged husband, Ted Hughes. Many accused him, not only of causing her death because of his philandering, but also of heavy-handed editing of her posthumous work. But Kirk notes that others have attributed her tragic end mainly to deep-seated psychological factors over which she and those close to her had little control: her lifelong battle with depression; her difficult relationship with her parents, especially her father; and the pressures of balancing a literary career with the roles of wife and mother.
This excellent, very readable biography includes photographs, a timeline, a family tree, a list of books in Sylvia Plath's personal library, and a bibliography of works by and about her.

Uncovers the life of Jane Cumming, who scandalized her contemporaries with tales of sexual deviancy but also defied cultural norms, standing up to male authority figures and showing resilience. In 1810 Edinburgh, the orphaned Scottish-Indian schoolgirl Jane Cumming alleged that her two schoolmistresses were sexually intimate. The allegation spawned a defamation suit that pitted Jane's grandmother, a member of the Scottish landed gentry, against two young professional women who were romantic friends. During the trial, the boundary between passion and friendship among women was debated and Jane was viewed "orientally," as morally corrupt and hypersexual. Located at the intersection of race, sex, and class, the case has long been a lightning rod for scholars of cultural studies, women's and gender history, and, given Lillian Hellman's appropriation of Jane's story in her 1934 play The Children's Hour, theater history as well. Frances B. Singh's wide-ranging biography, however, takes a new, psychological approach, putting the notorious case in the context of a life that was marked by loss, separation, abandonment--and resilience. Grounded in archival and genealogical sources never before consulted, Singh's narrative reconstructs Cumming's life from its inauspicious beginnings in a Calcutta orphanage through her schooling in Elgin and Edinburgh, an abusive marriage, her adherence to the Free Church at the time of the Scottish Disruption, and her posthumous life in Hellman's Broadway play. Singh provides a detailed analysis not only of the case itself, but of how both Jane's and her teachers' lives were affected in the aftermath.

This first biography of John Erskine views him in the larger contexts of the mass culture and expanded commercialism that helped propel his fame. It also relates a life narrative that demonstrates perils of academic celebrity along a conceptual path from public intellectual to pop icon.

Before "The Red Tent" won her international literary acclaim, Anita Diamant was a columnist in Boston. Over the course of twenty years, she wrote essays that reflected the shape and evoution of her life, as well as the trends of her generation. In the end, her musings about love and marriage, birth and death, nature versus nurture, politics and religion -- and everything from female friendships to quitting smoking -- have created a public diary of the progress of her life that resonated deeply with her readers. Now, "Pitching My Tent" collects the finest columns of a writer who is a reporter by training and a storyteller by heart, all revised and enriched with new material. Personal, inspiring, and often funny, "Pitching My Tent" displays the warmth, humor, and wisdom that Diamant's legions of fans have come to cherish.

This is the highly acclaimed fourth volume in the series that began with "The Twenties" and it is complimented with photographs and journal excerpts of some of the most interesting characters of the decade.

Elaine Mingus is one of the great epicenters of Joyce activities in the world today. Her seemingly tireless years of dedication to Joyce studies - in which she has founded as many as four extant reading groups, presented five papers at academic conferences, and organized fifteen Bloomsdsay celebrations - comes to lovely culmination in this collection of thoroughly researched and faithfully rendered essays. - Adam Harvey

Julian Maclaren-Ross, well known in his own lifetime and unfairly neglected after it, is now getting the attention he deserves. None of his letters have ever been published, and this collection comes out of extensive research and selection by Paul Willetts, Maclaren-Ross's biographer, the authority on the writer.

As an American author who chose to live in Europe, Henry James frequently wrote about cultural differences between the Old and New World. The plight of bewildered Americans adrift on a sea of European sophistication became a regular theme in his fiction. This collection of twenty-four papers from some of the world's leading James scholars offers a comprehensive picture of the author's crosscultural aesthetics. It provides detailed analyses of James's perception of Europe - of its people and places, its history and culture, its artists and thinkers, its aesthetics and its ethics - which ultimately lead to a profound reevaluation of his writing. With in-depth analysis of his works of fiction, his autobiographical and personal writings, and his critical works, the collection is a major contribution to current thinking about James, transtextuality and cultural appropriation.

This charming book is a series of entertaining and thought-provoking musings, mainly about the imagination, the sense of identity, the compulsion to write, and Isaac Asimov-who, as Janet Asimov says, was good at all of them. Dr. Janet J. Asimov, a psychiatrist and celebrated fiction writer, has penned this delightful memoir with insight, poignancy, and wit on topics that she and her husband, Isaac Asimov, found especially meaningful over the years. From profound issues such as religion, philosophy, sex, personal identity, and mortality, to lighter subjects such as traveling together, camping, the golden thirties, and the problems and joys of writing, Asimov reveals many new and fascinating details about two engaging and creative people whose greatest creation-in addition to their writings-was the life they made together. Replete with new information about Isaac Asimov and never-before-published excerpts from his witty letters to her, in addition to family photos, this collection of personal reminiscences complements Isaac Asimov's highly acclaimed one-volume autobiography, It's Been a Good Life, which Janet Asimov edited. The Times Literary Supplement praised it as "an excellent introduction to his vision and his personality." Janet Asimov concludes this singular memoir with her own short stories, many published in magazines, but never before collected together in one book. Notes for a Memoir is guaranteed to delight, entertain, and inspire.

Understands Nietzsche in the light of his activity as a creative writer from his juvenilia through the publication of The Birth of Tragedy, providing the first extensive study in English of his early literary works. The name Friedrich Nietzsche resonates around the world. Although known primarily as a philosopher, Nietzsche began his writing career while still a boy with literary texts: poetry, prose, and dramas. The present book is the first extensive study in English of these early literary works. It understands Nietzsche in the light of his activity as a creative writer from his juvenilia through his first two years as professor of classical philology at the University of Basel, that is, through the 1872 publication of his first major work, The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music. Knowledge of Nietzsche's early literary writings further underscores the value of The Birth of Tragedy as a work of world literature. The present study makes available almost all of Nietzsche's early poetry and extensive excerpts from his early prose works and dramas - much of it in English for the first time - along with commentary. A final, extensive chapter on The Birth of Tragedy treats it as the culmination of the early literary works. The book contains many new insights into Nietzsche and his work and essential source material for future research. All quotations from Nietzsche are given in both the original German and in English.

The first biography about Bertram Fletcher Robinson, who acted as 'assistant plot producer' to Arthur Conan Doyle over the Sherlock Holmes story The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901/02).

The first thorough and in depth biography of Nevil Shute, covering his life from childhood to his last years in Australia. Nevil Shute was the world famous and best-selling author of "A Town Like Alice," "On the Beach," and over 20 other novels. "Parallel Motion is the first true biography of Nevil Shute. Based on meticulous research, it contains a wealth of information about this wonderful (and often-overlooked) novelist. Biographer John Anderson, is, like Shute, an engineer, and he brings that knowledge and Shute spirit to this long-overdue chronicle of Shute's life. " - Michael S. Berliner, Editor, Letters of Ayn Rand

This incisive exploration probes the relationship between the novels of bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark and the key events and influences of her life. In her 2002 memoir, Kitchen Privileges, Mary Higgins Clark shared the details of her life with her readers, but she offered little significant reflection on those details. For that, readers must look to her fiction, where her themes, characters, and subjects suggest her responses to her life experiences. Mary Higgins Clark: Life and Letters provides readers with an analysis of these connections in a volume that should increase their understanding-and appreciation-of the author and her work. Focusing on subjects associated with the literary elements of representative Clark novels, Linda De Roche explores the relationship between the life of this bestselling author and the books that have won her legions of fans for more than a quarter century. Themes and issues woven into Clark's fiction-such as the role of the past in people's lives, repercussions of violence, and the concept of identity-are considered, while close critical readings uncover psychological, feminist, and sociopolitical interpretations that will delight fans and inform scholars. A plot synopsis and analysis of character development for each major work Clark family photographs A comprehensive list of Clark's published works, with reviews and criticism of the works covered in this volume An extensive list of additional biographical sources including Clark's most recent interviews A filmography listing adaptations of Clark's novels and stories

Much has been written on Simone de Beauvoir, one of France's leading intellectual figures of the 20th century. The sheer volume of her autobiographical writings testifies to her indefatigable questioning of the nature of existence and her personal and public engagement in the world over the best part of a century. This study aims to re-evaluate her extensive autobiographical ouvre, exploring its place in relation to the French autobiographical canon, and in the light of recent theorisations of autobiography. It presents readings which engage critically with existentialism, feminist theory, and autobiography studies generally, in particular focusing on the question of 'autothanatography', a term developed by theorists such as Jacques Derrida and Louis Marin. A new reading of the autobiographies via the lens of thanatos is presented with questions of gender in mind, and the nature of autobiography as genre is also explored more fully with particular attention paid to narrative voice. Close readings of the autobiographical ouvre combine with contextual details, critical overviews and links to recent developments in critiques of Beauvoir's fiction and philosophy. The study would be of particular interest to scholars in the following areas: 20th century French literature and culture; Autobiography studies; Literary theory; existentialism; Women's studies.

Despite all the biographical studies devoted to William Faulkner, there are still many fundamental contradictions in the way he is perceived. He has been described as a creator of worlds a la Dickens and as one of postmodernism's avatars, as indifferent to the intellectual currents of his time and as profoundly indebted to them, as deeply insightful about issues like race, class, and gender and as someone who merely reflects contemporary anxieties about them. A concise and focused study of Faulkner's literary lives can help readers sort through the questions raised by his work and by the voluminous response to it.

Includes an exciting sneak peek extract from Three Sisters - the conclusion to The Tattooist of Auschwitz Trilogy. Available now. The Tattooist of Auschwitz is one of the bestselling books of the 21st Century. Now, in this essential companion, Heather Morris presents an inspiring manual for life, with a series of tales of the remarkable people she has met, the incredible stories they have shared with her, and the lessons they hold for us all. In Stories of Hope, Heather will explore her extraordinary talents as a listener - a skill she employed when she first met Lale Sokolov, the tattooist at Auschwitz-Birkenau and the inspiration for her bestselling novel. It was this ability that led Lale to entrust Heather with his story, which she told in her novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz and the bestselling follow up, Cilka's Journey. Now Heather shares the story behind her inspirational writing journey and the defining experiences of her life, including her profound friendship with Lale, and explores how she learned to really listen to the stories people told her - skills she believes we can all learn. 'Stories are what connect us and remind us that hope is always possible.' Heather Morris An international phenomenon, The Tattooist of Auschwitz has sold over six million copies. Cilka's Journey has sold over a million copies worldwide.

Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) was one of the greatest spiritual writers of the twentieth century. Living most of her life in England, Underhill used writing as a vehicle to express her passionate search for the infinite life. Her philosophy transcends generations and her legacy as a pivotal figure in Christian mysticism endures today. In this comprehensive biography Dana Greene expertly captures Underhill's true essence. She gives us a thorough account of Underhill's development as a mystic and theologian and also explores beyond to the heart of who she was as a person. The connections Greene makes between Underhill's personal life and work create an in-depth and accurate portrait of this extraordinary woman.

Challenging. Successful. Controversial. All terms used to accurately describe African American novelist and autobiographer John Edgar Wideman. This book examines his life and work-and the connections between them. The Life and Work of John Edgar Wideman is ideal for readers who might not be familiar with Wideman's work or those who may have been intimidated by descriptions of his writings. Through its coverage of Wideman's life from several generations back to the present and explanations of how Wideman makes use of life experiences, this book breaks down barriers for new readers and enables them to better relate and connect to his writing. Author Keith E. Byerman discusses Wideman's book-length works of fiction and nonfiction, as well as some of his shorter, journalistic pieces. The book emphasizes how Wideman integrates family and personal experience into what is typically labeled postmodern writing, and explains how he has evolved as a public intellectual who supplies shrewd commentary on subjects such as the prison system, terrorism, and the role of sports in American society.