Jean Stafford: A Biography Book

This is a biography of the American fiction writer Jean Stafford (1915-1979), winner of the Pulitzer Prize, 1970 and who is considered to be one of the best short-story writers of this century. It was authorized by her estate, and the author has had access to new and unpublished material. David Roberts traces her life, from her birth in a poor Colorado family in 1915, to her rise as one of group of celebrated East Coast writers which included Randall Jarrett and Robert Lowell, whom she married against the wishes of his patrician Boston family. Her stories were greeted with critical acclaim, as were her novels, including the bestselling "Boston Adventurer" and her second, "Mountain Lion". In 1947 "Life" called her the "most brilliant of the new fiction writers". Meanwhile, her marriage fell apart and she spent many months in a psych-alcoholic clinic and wrote only one further novel, though her "Collected Stories" won the 1970 Pulitzer Prize and she continued to write criticism, essays and polemic. She married again to Oliver Jensen, but this marriage too ended in divorce and her third marriage was to "New Yorker" sports writer A.J. Liebling. After his death she became something of a recluse and died in 1979. Her work is currently enjoying a revival and her "Collected Stories" and "Boston Adventurer" are both available in Hogarth.Read More