The extraordinary twentieth-century writer Barbara Comyns led a
life as captivating as the narratives she spun. This pioneering
biography reveals the journey of a woman who experienced hardship
and single-motherhood before the age of thirty but went on to
publish a sequence of novels that are unique in the English
language. Comyns turned her hand to many jobs in order to survive,
from artist’s model to restoring pianos. Hundreds of unpublished
letters reveal an occasionally desperate but resourceful and witty
woman whose complicated life ranged from enduring poverty when
young to mixing with spivs, spies and high society. While working
as a housekeeper in her mid-thirties, Comyns began transforming the
bleak episodes of her life into compelling fictions streaked with
surrealism and deadpan humour. The Vet’s Daughter (1959),
championed by Graham Greene, brought her fame, although her use of
the gothic and macabre divided readers and reviewers. This
biography not only excavates Comyns’s life but also reclaims her
fiction, providing a timely reassessment of her literary
contribution. It sheds new light on a remarkable author who deftly
captured the complexities of human life. -- .
General
Imprint: |
Manchester University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
March 2024 |
First published: |
2024 |
Authors: |
Avril Horner
|
Dimensions: |
234 x 156mm (L x W) |
Pages: |
424 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-5261-7374-4 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-5261-7374-3 |
Barcode: |
9781526173744 |
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