/lit/ - Literature

>>19953961
From her biographies I would definitely start with Virginia Spencer Carr's The Lonely Hunter, as it is the most full and objective account of her life.

The one you are referring to is My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland, and is a modern LGBT reinterpretation with rediscovered therapy notes upon the death of her therapist. As Shapland is a journalist before writer, it reads more as a long form article than full biography; she annoyingly talks about herself quite a bit, and having been written during the 2016 election there are some very cringe references to Trump that were not necessary. Anyway she discovered the therapy notes between Carson and her therapist, Dr Mary Mercer, that shed a bit more light onto her life that Carr previously didn't have access to. It basically hinted that Carson had a lesbian relationship with Dr Mary Mercer, and most likely had a few lesbian relationships in her past as well that were either secret or kept hidden by the estate and by Carr as well in her biography. I think it is worth reading if you have a genuine interest in McCullers as the therapy notes are interesting; that being said Mary Dearborn is also due to release her bio in the coming year so if you could just wait for that one to come out if you want the modern take with the therapy notes while avoiding the Trump stuff.

The Oliver Evans bio is also very good and more angled for an academic study. It is not very detailed in the life part but it introduces each novel with the context it was written in and along with a short analysis/criticism. This one is really great at understanding how much of Carson's self is in her books. Most of her fiction is at least semi-biographical.

As for Carson as a person from reading her bios I got the impression she was just a very complicated and stubborn person, and sometimes a bit much for people to deal with; I think she was either your best friend/lover or nothing at all, and that isolated her a lot. She also got a bit jealous of other novelists; she had a one sided feud with Truman Capote, who purportedly copied her stylistically, and also made comments about others such as Flannery O'Conner (deserved) and also the quote in the OP about Faulkner and Hemingway (also deserved). She wasn't mean spirited though. There was an anecdote from her bios that when one time someone accused her of anti-semitism she had an entire episode bothering every single one of her friends about it because she was so concerned over having hurt someone, which I think is very sweet. I think strong personality describes her well.

>age
21
>Favorite book
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
>Favorite author
Carson McCullers
>Favorite song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6psa1ptpGTc&ab_channel=TheSmiths
>Hopes for the future
Married with 2 kids and a job I don't hate.

Weird that all those names are modern. You should take a look at the classics like Austen, Bronte and Dickinson if you haven't already, I think generally they are the best female writers.

Also you missed out Carson McCullers and Sylvia Plath. Annemarie Schwarzenbach is fun to read as well if you like travel/adventure stuff.


>>19717210
Don't bother with them. I've been trying to squeeze out any justification at all for liking that horrible woman for a while now, but all they do is deflect and call me a cringe tranny. They are simply not worth the effort.

>>19711154
Thank you anon. But you should know these shitposts are just a roundabout way to talk about McCullers. People get annoyed and ignore if I make a direct thread about her, so I have to do my best to disguise and sneak her in. O'Connor is just collateral damage. I'm thinking the more people I get to read her, the more people I'll have to talk to, but I'm unfortunately not having much success since apparently I'm the only one up for a discussion.