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Item specifics
- Condition
- ISBN
- 9780312303754
- Book Title
- Talented Miss Highsmith : the Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith
- Item Length
- 9.5 in
- Publisher
- St. Martin's Press
- Publication Year
- 2009
- Format
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- Illustrator
- Yes
- Item Height
- 2.2 in
- Genre
- Biography & Autobiography
- Topic
- Literary
- Item Width
- 6.7 in
- Item Weight
- 33.5 Oz
- Number of Pages
- 704 Pages
About this product
Product Information
Patricia Highsmith, one of the great writers of 20th Century American fiction, had a life as darkly compelling as that of her favorite "hero-criminal," talented Tom Ripley. In this revolutionary biography, Joan Schenkar paints a riveting portrait, from Highsmith's birth in Texas to Hitchcock's filming of her first novel, Strangers On a Train, to her long, strange, self-exile in Europe. We see her as a secret writer for the comics, a brilliant creator of disturbing fictions, and erotic predator with dozens of women (and a few good men) on her love list. The Talented Miss Highsmith is the first literary biography with access to Highsmith's whole story: her closest friends, her oeuvre, her archives. It's a compulsive page-turner unlike any other, a book worthy of Highsmith herself.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
St. Martin's Press
ISBN-10
0312303750
ISBN-13
9780312303754
eBay Product ID (ePID)
72718152
Product Key Features
Book Title
Talented Miss Highsmith : the Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Topic
Literary
Publication Year
2009
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Biography & Autobiography
Number of Pages
704 Pages
Dimensions
Item Length
9.5 in
Item Height
2.2 in
Item Width
6.7 in
Item Weight
33.5 Oz
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Trade
Lc Classification Number
Ps3558.I366z87 2009
Reviews
Praise forThe Talented Miss Highsmith: "Patricia Highsmith is a fascinating and bizarre figure, and a tremendous challenge for the biographer who has to account for her alcoholism, lesbianism, negativism, criminal tendencies, huge talent and much else. Joan Schenkar has accomplished this amazing feat with a really smart book."--Diane Johnson, critic and novelist, author ofLulu in Marrakech "Joan Schenkar is the first writer to grapple with Patricia Highsmith on every level of her being, from her bizarre personal life to her incredibly prolific writing life. It's hard to avoid superlatives when describing Schenkar's biography, but there doesn't seem to be any other way to go about it."--Deirdre Bair, author ofSamuel Beckett, winner of the National Book Award "This is an epic biography - vivid with Joan Schenkar's concern for her subject - the mercurial, gifted, fascinating mystery novelist Patricia Highsmith. Schenkar is an inexhaustible researcher and meticulous cultural historian, especially in the hidden pan-sexual world of literary New York of the 40s and 50s. She has a remarkable ability to evoke landscapes, relationships and, above all, a myriad of personal details from the fountain pen Highsmith used to the amount of alcohol she drank to the women she loved (and lost) all the while telling us how Highsmith concocted masterpieces likeStrangers on a TrainandThe Talented Mr. Ripley. This is a big book, an awesome achievement."-- Patricia Bosworth, author ofDiane Arbus, A BiographyPraise forTruly Wilde: "Joan Schenkar has lifted a veil to reveal a sophisticated, overheated lesbian world in Paris int eh first decades of the twentieth century. At the centre is Oscar Wilde's niece Dolly--self-destructive, self-dramatizing, magnetic. This is a great story, beautifully told."--Edmund White "Truly Wilde is a revelation, the great story of a life and of the creation of modern culture. Read this biography for its high drama, its hijinks, and, at the end, for its poignancy and horror."--Catharine R. Stimpson "A romp through a unique era featuring countless intriguing lesbians and written in a fabulously gossipy style."--Time Out New York "Schenkar is thorough and smart. Her book encompasses more than just Dolly and the women she knew and loved; it also traces an era of literary greatness and uniqueness. Like her uncle, Dolly Wilde was talented and tormented. Her brilliant, captivating life is tragic, to be sure, but in Schenkar's hands it is vivid and stunning."--Miami Herald "A sprawling, eclectic take on one of the most sensual and tragic figures of the Lost Generation."--Kirkus Reviews "Joan Schenkar's spicy p'té of a biography isn't just an insightful record of Dolly Wilde's brilliant mess of a life; it's also a lively history of a world now lost to the cause of gay liberation."--Berkshire Eagle "Schenkar's accomplishments withTruly Wildeare three-fold--she records the life of an unusual woman, recounts the difficulties faced by gays post-World War I, and gives proper due to a set of women writers and artists who are just now starting to be appreciated."--Pittsburg City Paper "At last, Dolly Wilde has found a biographer with the intelligence, sensitivity and flamboyance to write the work of art that was her life."--Daily Telegraph "It is Dolly's posthumous good fortune that Schenkar became intrigued by her. . .Dolly was a beautiful loser, the book is an absolute winner."--Daily Mail "Joan Schenkar is an American playwright, which perhaps explains why she takes such a fresh approach to biography. . ..this book is a, Praise forThe Talented Miss Highsmith: "Schenkar has a wonderfully bold approach: not worrying about a linear chronology (although this is meticulously supplied in the appendices), but choosing instead to follow the emotional water course of Highsmith's life, allowing her subject to find her own level - to be tidal, sullen, to flow without check, so that events in one decade naturally make an imaginative tributary into turbulence before and after. Schenkar's writing is witty, sharp and light-handed, a considerable achievement given the immense detail of this biography. Highsmith was a detail junkie. Schenkar's nonlinear organizing method was a brilliant idea to save herself - and the reader - from data overload. This is a biography of clarity and style. A model of its kind."-Jeanette Winterson, The New York Times Book Review; cover review "This is no ordinary biography...[Ms. Schenkar] writes with great authority and perverse affection...'The Talented Miss Highsmith' breaks much ground in connecting Highsmith's diabolical tales with the real women who prompted her strongest passions ....In addition to its impressive sweep, this biography also values minutiae. An exacting inventory of the contents of Highsmith's office captures every mundane object, right down to the goat's bell and the Wite-Out pencil. Highsmith loved details like that. And Ms. Schenkar shows an uncannily keen grasp of Highsmith's spirit."-Janet Maslin, The New York Times " Throughout nearly 700 pages of lustrous text, Schenkar's prose is as supple and shapely as Highsmith's was flat and functional. "The Talented Miss Highsmith" is both dazzling and definitive ... Its scope and scholarship are unassailable, and its vigor indefatigable. t's a volume as original as its contemptible, miserable, irresistible subject."-Daniel Mallory, The L. A. Times "Ms. Schenkar provides a vivid, disturbing portrait of a writer whose work-thanks to some virtuosic movie-making-is known more as source material than as literary art in its own right... It is hard to imagine a more thoroughly fact-filled or energetic biography than "The Talented Miss Highsmith" or one more determined to examine the deepest recesses of its complicated subject."-Alexander Theroux, The Wall Street Journal "The end result is a biography that captures the writer in all her sullen, sinister, ambivalent glory. Grade: A"-Entertainment Weekly. "What most impresses me with Schenkar's approach is its boldness: she casts aside chronology to get at the themes of her heroine's character, and she conjures those themes by unabashedly connecting the events of Highsmith's life to her work. So we get marvellous formulations like this:'Pat thought about love the way she thought about murder: as an emotional urgency between two people, one of whom dies in the act.' f much of Highsmith's work remains little known by the general reading public, and the details of her fascinating life obscure, Schenkar's book should serve as a corrective. We plan on delving into some Highsmith books we haven't read (I've just begun "The Price of Salt" and Jon is tackling Ripley), and we hope you'll approach this month's pick in a similar way-as an invitation to learning more about the work of, as Schenkar puts it, 'Her High Darkness, Patricia Highsmith: author of some of the twentieth century's most dangerous fictions.'"-Macy Halford, The New Yorker Online Book Club: Book of the Month "Author and playwright Schenkar presents a compelling portrait of suspense novelist Patricia Highsmith whose own life was often as twisted as that of her antihero Tom Ripley.... 'Perversion,' Highsmith once said, 'interests me most and is my guiding darkness,' and Schenkar illuminates how her demons played out on the page and in real life."-Publishers W, Praise forThe Talented Miss Highsmith:A 2009 Edgar Award NomineeA 2009 Agatha Award NomineeA 2009 Lambda Literary Award Nominee APublishers WeeklyPick of the Week "Schenkar has a wonderfully bold approach: not worrying about a linear chronology (although this is meticulously supplied in the appendices), but choosing instead to follow the emotional water course of Highsmith's life, allowing her subject to find her own level - to be tidal, sullen, to flow without check, so that events in one decade naturally make an imaginative tributary into turbulence before and after. Schenkar's writing is witty, sharp and light-handed, a considerable achievement given the immense detail of this biography. Highsmith was a detail junkie. Schenkar's nonlinear organizing method was a brilliant idea to save herself - and the reader - from data overload. This is a biography of clarity and style. A model of its kind."--Jeanette Winterson,The New York Times Book Review; cover review "This is no ordinary biography...[Ms. Schenkar] writes with great authority and perverse affection...'The Talented Miss Highsmith' breaks much ground in connecting Highsmith's diabolical tales with the real women who prompted her strongest passions ....In addition to its impressive sweep, this biography also values minutiae. An exacting inventory of the contents of Highsmith's office captures every mundane object, right down to the goat's bell and the Wite-Out pencil. Highsmith loved details like that. And Ms. Schenkar shows an uncannily keen grasp of Highsmith's spirit."--Janet Maslin,The New York Times " Throughout nearly 700 pages of lustrous text, Schenkar's prose is as supple and shapely as Highsmith's was flat and functional. "The Talented Miss Highsmith" is both dazzling and definitive ... Its scope and scholarship are unassailable, and its vigor indefatigable. t's a volume as original as its contemptible, miserable, irresistible subject."--Daniel Mallory, Los Angeles Times "Ms. Schenkar provides a vivid, disturbing portrait of a writer whose work-thanks to some virtuosic movie-making-is known more as source material than as literary art in its own right... It is hard to imagine a more thoroughly fact-filled or energetic biography than "The Talented Miss Highsmith" or one more determined to examine the deepest recesses of its complicated subject."--Alexander Theroux,The Wall Street Journal "The end result is a biography that captures the writer in all her sullen, sinister, ambivalent glory. Grade: A"--Entertainment Weekly "What most impresses me with Schenkar's approach is its boldness: she casts aside chronology to get at the themes of her heroine's character, and she conjures those themes by unabashedly connecting the events of Highsmith's life to her work. So we get marvellous formulations like this: 'Pat thought about love the way she thought about murder: as an emotional urgency between two people, one of whom dies in the act.' Much of Highsmith's work remains little known by the general reading public, and the details of her fascinating life obscure, Schenkar's book should serve as a corrective. We plan on delving into some Highsmith books we haven't read (I've just begun "The Price of Salt" and Jon is tackling Ripley), and we hope you'll approach this month's pick in a similar way-as an invitation to learning more about the work of, as Schenkar puts it, 'Her High Darkness, Patricia Highsmith: author of some of the twentieth century's most dangerous fictions.'"--Macy Halford,The New YorkerOnline Book Club: Book of the Month "Schenkar's fascinating biography portrays, Praise forThe Talented Miss Highsmith: "The first word that comes to mind after reading Joan Schenkar's new biography is "stunning." Anyone who has ever read one of Patricia Highsmith's novels has had to wonder about the quirky intelligence that shaped the plots, so full of downright evil, mischievous wickedness, and outrageous behavior. What kind of a mind could envision page after page of pathological nastiness and still keep her readers totally enthralled? Who could elevate anti-social behavior to so high an art that her readers could not get enough and clamored for more of it? Joan Schenkar is the first writer to grapple with Patricia Highsmith on every level of her b eing, from her bizarre personal life to her incredibly prolific writing life. It's hard to avoid superlatives when describing Schenkar's biography, but there doesn't seem to be any other way to go about it. As a biographer myself, I am well aware of the astonishing amount of research that went into the writing of this book: Schenkar has read and studied-indeed poured over---everything Highsmith ever wrote, from the odd occasional jotting, to the precisely detailed writing notebooks, to the variant versions of the novels themselves. She has interviewed everyone who ever encountered Highsmith, and she has woven all this material into what can only be called a page-turner. And she has done this in such an original manner that her biography of Patricia Highsmith will not only be the definitive study for many years to come, but it will also be known as the biography that changed the way the genre is written. Schenkar has created a vivid and dynamic account of Highsmith's life by departing from the usual chronological narrative ("she was born, she grew up, she lived, she died…"). Instead, she clusters ideas, themes, events, human relationships, and various other topics so that her reader can see how all these things influenced the way Highsmith lived her daily life, and how and why they came to be so important to her writing. Schenkar has an incredibly deft touch as she deals with so many horrific facts and events. She possesses a remarkable objectivity (and frankly, I wondered at times how she managed to be so level-headed and even-handed as she wrote this stuff). She allows this life to unfold in all its sometimes seamy sordidness while still keeping her readers' interest and attention. It is a gifted writer who can create such an enthralling account of so incredible a life and Schenkar deserves high praise for carrying off this difficult feat. I think this biography can be called a "break-out" book, one that could reach a large audience if marketed properly. Schenkar herself is a charming and witty author who can talk eloquently about Highsmith and she should be put to work in every appropriate venue. There are portions of this biography that are complete and finished in and of themselves, and there must be magazines, blogs, and other media where they can and should be placed. I would not be surprised to see film makers scrambling to adapt this book. In short, this is one of the best biographies of recent times, and I urge the publisher to get solidly behind it."--Deirdre Bair, author ofSamuel Beckett, winner of the National Book AwardPraise forTruly Wilde: "Joan Schenkar has lifted a veil to reveal a sophisticated, overheated lesbian world in Paris int eh first decades of the twentieth century. At the centre is Oscar Wilde's niece Dolly--self-dest, Praise forThe Talented Miss Highsmith: "Joan Schenkar is the first writer to grapple with Patricia Highsmith on every level of her being, from her bizarre personal life to her incredibly prolific writing life. It's hard to avoid superlatives when describing Schenkar's biography, but there doesn't seem to be any other way to go about it."--Deirdre Bair, winner of the National Book Award for Samuel Beckett: a Biography "This is an epic biography - vivid with Joan Schenkar's concern for her subject - the mercurial, gifted, fascinating mystery novelist Patricia Highsmith. Schenkar is an inexhaustible researcher and meticulous cultural historian, especially in the hidden pan-sexual world of literary New York of the 40s and 50s. She has a remarkable ability to evoke landscapes, relationships and, above all, a myriad of personal details from the fountain pen Highsmith used to the amount of alcohol she drank to the women she loved (and lost) all the while telling us how Highsmith concocted masterpieces like Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley. This is a big book, an awesome achievement."--Patricia Bosworth, author of Diane Arbus: a Biography "Patricia Highsmith is a fascinating and bizarre figure, and a tremendous challenge for the biographer who has to account for her alcoholism, lesbianism, negativism, criminal tendencies, huge talent and much else. Joan Schenkar has accomplished this amazing feat with a really smart book."--Diane Johnson, critic and novelist, author of Lulu in Marrakech "I was enthralled by The Talented Miss Highsmith. It's a brilliant biography, so finely judged in its critical appreciation of Pat's work, wonderfully informative about its sources and inspiration, and both enlightening and harrowing in its revelation of her tormented personality and darkly troubled yet (because of her exceptional talent) in some ways triumphant life."--Francis Wyndham, critic, editor, winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award forThe Other GardenPraise forTruly Wilde: "Joan Schenkar has lifted a veil to reveal a sophisticated, overheated lesbian world in Paris in the first decades of the twentieth century. At the centre is Oscar Wilde's niece Dolly--self-destructive, self-dramatizing, magnetic. This is a great story, beautifully told."--Edmund White "Truly Wilde is a revelation, the great story of a life and of the creation of modern culture. Read this biography for its high drama, its hijinks, and, at the end, for its poignancy and horror."--Catharine R. Stimpson "A romp through a unique era featuring countless intriguing lesbians and written in a fabulously gossipy style."--Time Out New York "Schenkar is thorough and smart. Her book encompasses more than just Dolly and the women she knew and loved; it also traces an era of literary greatness and uniqueness. Like her uncle, Dolly Wilde was talented and tormented. Her brilliant, captivating life is tragic, to be sure, but in Schenkar's hands it is vivid and stunning."--Miami Herald "A sprawling, eclectic take on one of the most sensual and tragic figures of the Lost Generation."--Kirkus Reviews "Joan Schenkar's spicy p'té of a biography isn't just an insightful record of Dolly Wilde's brilliant mess of a life; it's also a lively history of a world now lost to the cause of gay liberation."--Berkshire Eagle "Schenkar's accomplishments withTruly Wildeare three-fold--she records the life of an unusual woman, Praise forThe Talented Miss Highsmith: "A comprehensive, nuanced evaluation of Highsmith Country."--Kirkus Reviews "Joan Schenkar is the first writer to grapple with Patricia Highsmith on every level of her being, from her bizarre personal life to her incredibly prolific writing life. It's hard to avoid superlatives when describing Schenkar's biography, but there doesn't seem to be any other way to go about it."--Deirdre Bair, winner of the National Book Award for Samuel Beckett: a Biography "This is an epic biography - vivid with Joan Schenkar's concern for her subject - the mercurial, gifted, fascinating mystery novelist Patricia Highsmith. Schenkar is an inexhaustible researcher and meticulous cultural historian, especially in the hidden pan-sexual world of literary New York of the 40s and 50s. She has a remarkable ability to evoke landscapes, relationships and, above all, a myriad of personal details from the fountain pen Highsmith used to the amount of alcohol she drank to the women she loved (and lost) all the while telling us how Highsmith concocted masterpieces like Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley. This is a big book, an awesome achievement."--Patricia Bosworth, author of Diane Arbus: a Biography "Patricia Highsmith is a fascinating and bizarre figure, and a tremendous challenge for the biographer who has to account for her alcoholism, lesbianism, negativism, criminal tendencies, huge talent and much else. Joan Schenkar has accomplished this amazing feat with a really smart book."--Diane Johnson, critic and novelist, author of Lulu in Marrakech "I was enthralled by The Talented Miss Highsmith. It's a brilliant biography, so finely judged in its critical appreciation of Pat's work, wonderfully informative about its sources and inspiration, and both enlightening and harrowing in its revelation of her tormented personality and darkly troubled yet (because of her exceptional talent) in some ways triumphant life."--Francis Wyndham, critic, editor, winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award forThe Other GardenPraise forTruly Wilde: "Joan Schenkar has lifted a veil to reveal a sophisticated, overheated lesbian world in Paris in the first decades of the twentieth century. At the centre is Oscar Wilde's niece Dolly--self-destructive, self-dramatizing, magnetic. This is a great story, beautifully told."--Edmund White "Truly Wilde is a revelation, the great story of a life and of the creation of modern culture. Read this biography for its high drama, its hijinks, and, at the end, for its poignancy and horror."--Catharine R. Stimpson "A romp through a unique era featuring countless intriguing lesbians and written in a fabulously gossipy style."--Time Out New York "Schenkar is thorough and smart. Her book encompasses more than just Dolly and the women she knew and loved; it also traces an era of literary greatness and uniqueness. Like her uncle, Dolly Wilde was talented and tormented. Her brilliant, captivating life is tragic, to be sure, but in Schenkar's hands it is vivid and stunning."--Miami Herald "A sprawling, eclectic take on one of the most sensual and tragic figures of the Lost Generation."--Kirkus Reviews "Joan Schenkar's spicy p'té of a biography isn't just an insightful record of Dolly Wilde's brilliant mess of a life; it's also a lively history of a world now lost to the cause of gay liberation."--Be, Praise forThe Talented Miss Highsmith: **Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week** The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia HighsmithJoan Schenkar. St. Martin's, $35 (704p) ISBN 978-0-312-30375-4 Author and playwright Schenkar (Truly Wilde) presents a compelling portrait of suspense novelist Patricia Highsmith (19211995), whose own life was often as twisted as that of her antihero Tom Ripley. Dispensing with the traditional chronological narrative, Schenkar divides her study into themed sections, which crisscross and mirror each other, embodying the themes of doubling and alter egos in Highsmith's work and life. From her early years in Texas through her time soaking up Manhattan's literary life in the '40s to her self-exile in Europe, Highsmith kept diaries in which she meticulously detailed everything from her myriad female lovers to plot ideas. Pessimistic, alcoholic and chronically unhappy, Highsmith created some of the most chilling tales of psychological suspense and betrayal, includingThe Talented Mr. Ripleyand its sequels, andStrangers on a Train. Schenkar's research is impeccable, and she makes excellent use of the voluminous Highsmith archives in Switzerland and interviews with Highsmith's friends, ex-lovers and literary contemporaries. "Perversion," Highsmith once said, "interests me most and is my guiding darkness," and Schenkar illuminates how her demons played out on the page and in real life. 16 pages of b&w photos.(Dec.) "A comprehensive, nuanced evaluation of Highsmith Country."--Kirkus Reviews "Joan Schenkar is the first writer to grapple with Patricia Highsmith on every level of her being, from her bizarre personal life to her incredibly prolific writing life. It's hard to avoid superlatives when describing Schenkar's biography, but there doesn't seem to be any other way to go about it."--Deirdre Bair, winner of the National Book Award for Samuel Beckett: a Biography "This is an epic biography - vivid with Joan Schenkar's concern for her subject - the mercurial, gifted, fascinating mystery novelist Patricia Highsmith. Schenkar is an inexhaustible researcher and meticulous cultural historian, especially in the hidden pan-sexual world of literary New York of the 40s and 50s. She has a remarkable ability to evoke landscapes, relationships and, above all, a myriad of personal details from the fountain pen Highsmith used to the amount of alcohol she drank to the women she loved (and lost) all the while telling us how Highsmith concocted masterpieces like Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley. This is a big book, an awesome achievement."--Patricia Bosworth, author of Diane Arbus: a Biography "Patricia Highsmith is a fascinating and bizarre figure, and a tremendous challenge for the biographer who has to account for her alcoholism, lesbianism, negativism, criminal tendencies, huge talent and much else. Joan Schenkar has accomplished this amazing feat with a really smart book."--Diane Johnson, critic and novelist, author of Lulu in Marrakech "I was enthralled by The Talented Miss Highsmith. It's a brilliant biography, so finely judged in its critical appreciation of Pat's work, wonderfully informative about its sources and inspiration, and both enlightening and harrowing in its revelation of her tormented personality and darkly troubled yet (because of her exceptional talent) in some ways triumphant life."--Francis Wynd, Praise forThe Talented Miss Highsmith:"Compelling...The end result is a biography that captures the writer in all her sullen, sinister, ambivalent glory. A."--Entertainment Weekly"This is no ordinary literary biography…[Schenkar's] is an unusually assertive voice, which makes it well suited to Highsmith. ... Ms. Schenkar shows an uncannily keen grasp of Highsmith's spirit."--The New York Times "Schenkar provides a vivid, disturbing portrait of a writer whose work-thanks to some virtuosic movie-making-is known more as source material than as literary art in its own right. Ms. Schenkar does make a place for Highsmith in the literary pantheon, if only in one of its darker rooms. It is hard to imagine a more thoroughly fact-filled or energetic biography than "The Talented Miss Highsmith" or one more determined to examine the deepest recesses of its complicated subject."--The Wall Street Journal**Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week** The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia HighsmithJoan Schenkar. St. Martin's, $35 (704p) ISBN 978-0-312-30375-4 Author and playwright Schenkar (Truly Wilde) presents a compelling portrait of suspense novelist Patricia Highsmith (19211995), whose own life was often as twisted as that of her antihero Tom Ripley. Dispensing with the traditional chronological narrative, Schenkar divides her study into themed sections, which crisscross and mirror each other, embodying the themes of doubling and alter egos in Highsmith's work and life. From her early years in Texas through her time soaking up Manhattan's literary life in the '40s to her self-exile in Europe, Highsmith kept diaries in which she meticulously detailed everything from her myriad female lovers to plot ideas. Pessimistic, alcoholic and chronically unhappy, Highsmith created some of the most chilling tales of psychological suspense and betrayal, includingThe Talented Mr. Ripleyand its sequels, andStrangers on a Train. Schenkar's research is impeccable, and she makes excellent use of the voluminous Highsmith archives in Switzerland and interviews with Highsmith's friends, ex-lovers and literary contemporaries. "Perversion," Highsmith once said, "interests me most and is my guiding darkness," and Schenkar illuminates how her demons played out on the page and in real life. 16 pages of b&w photos.(Dec.)"Schenkar has written a meticulous and careful biography of one of 20th-century America's great crime and mystery writers…she is especially good at describing Highsmith's years as a comic book writer and the homosexual culture of the 1940s50s. An imaginative, definitive Highsmith biography, great for literature students, Highsmith fans, and mystery readers."-Library Journal "A comprehensive, nuanced evaluation of Highsmith Country."--Kirkus Reviews "Joan Schenkar is the first writer to grapple with Patricia Highsmith on every level of her being, from her bizarre personal life to her incredibly prolific writing life. It's hard to avoid superlatives when describing Schenkar's biography, but there doesn't seem to be any other way to go about it."--Deirdre Bair, winner of the National Book Award for Samuel Beckett: a Biography "This is an epic biography - vivid with Joan Schenkar's concern for her subject - the mercurial, gifted, fascinating mystery novelist Patricia Highsmith. Schenkar is an inexhaustible researcher and meticulous cultural historian, especially in the hidden pan-sexual worl, Praise forThe Talented Miss Highsmith:A 2009 Edgar Award NomineeA 2009 Agatha Award Nominee APublishers WeeklyPick of the Week "Schenkar has a wonderfully bold approach: not worrying about a linear chronology (although this is meticulously supplied in the appendices), but choosing instead to follow the emotional water course of Highsmith's life, allowing her subject to find her own level - to be tidal, sullen, to flow without check, so that events in one decade naturally make an imaginative tributary into turbulence before and after. Schenkar's writing is witty, sharp and light-handed, a considerable achievement given the immense detail of this biography. Highsmith was a detail junkie. Schenkar's nonlinear organizing method was a brilliant idea to save herself - and the reader - from data overload. This is a biography of clarity and style. A model of its kind."--Jeanette Winterson,The New York Times Book Review; cover review "This is no ordinary biography...[Ms. Schenkar] writes with great authority and perverse affection...'The Talented Miss Highsmith' breaks much ground in connecting Highsmith's diabolical tales with the real women who prompted her strongest passions ....In addition to its impressive sweep, this biography also values minutiae. An exacting inventory of the contents of Highsmith's office captures every mundane object, right down to the goat's bell and the Wite-Out pencil. Highsmith loved details like that. And Ms. Schenkar shows an uncannily keen grasp of Highsmith's spirit."--Janet Maslin,The New York Times " Throughout nearly 700 pages of lustrous text, Schenkar's prose is as supple and shapely as Highsmith's was flat and functional. "The Talented Miss Highsmith" is both dazzling and definitive ... Its scope and scholarship are unassailable, and its vigor indefatigable. t's a volume as original as its contemptible, miserable, irresistible subject."--Daniel Mallory, Los Angeles Times "Ms. Schenkar provides a vivid, disturbing portrait of a writer whose work-thanks to some virtuosic movie-making-is known more as source material than as literary art in its own right... It is hard to imagine a more thoroughly fact-filled or energetic biography than "The Talented Miss Highsmith" or one more determined to examine the deepest recesses of its complicated subject."--Alexander Theroux,The Wall Street Journal "The end result is a biography that captures the writer in all her sullen, sinister, ambivalent glory. Grade: A"--Entertainment Weekly "What most impresses me with Schenkar's approach is its boldness: she casts aside chronology to get at the themes of her heroine's character, and she conjures those themes by unabashedly connecting the events of Highsmith's life to her work. So we get marvellous formulations like this: 'Pat thought about love the way she thought about murder: as an emotional urgency between two people, one of whom dies in the act.' Much of Highsmith's work remains little known by the general reading public, and the details of her fascinating life obscure, Schenkar's book should serve as a corrective. We plan on delving into some Highsmith books we haven't read (I've just begun "The Price of Salt" and Jon is tackling Ripley), and we hope you'll approach this month's pick in a similar way-as an invitation to learning more about the work of, as Schenkar puts it, 'Her High Darkness, Patricia Highsmith: author of some of the twentieth century's most dangerous fictions.'"--Macy Halford,The New YorkerOnline Book Club: Book of the Month "Schenkar's fascinating biography portrays Highsmith as driven by obsessions, especially her
Copyright Date
2009
Lccn
2009-018363
Dewey Decimal
813/.54 B
Dewey Edition
22
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Chicago, Illinois, United States
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Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan Republic, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde Islands, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon Republic, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Croatia, Republic of the Congo, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Vietnam, Wallis and Futuna, Western Samoa, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Excludes:
Barbados, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Guadeloupe, Libya, Martinique, New Caledonia, Reunion, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Venezuela
Shipping and handling | To | Service | Delivery*See Delivery notes |
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US $7.61 (approx C $10.43) | United States | Economy Shipping (USPS Media MailTM) | Estimated between Sat, Jun 15 and Fri, Jun 21 to 43230 |
Handling time |
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Will usually ship within 4 business days of receiving cleared payment. |
Taxes |
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Taxes may be applicable at checkout. Learn moreLearn more about paying tax on eBay purchases |
Sales tax for an item #116144400420
Sales tax for an item #116144400420
Seller collects sales tax for items shipped to the following provinces:
Province | Sales Tax Rate |
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Return policy
Return policy details |
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The seller will not accept returns for this item. |
Payment details
Payment methods
Seller feedback (850)
This item (1)
All items (850)
2***i (1245)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past 6 months
Verified purchase
Beautiful book, great price, quick delivery!
b***s (516)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past 6 months
Verified purchase
Interesting Fraternal Embroidered Fragment Masonic Odd Fellows Lamb of God arrived as described. Gorgeous embroidery! This fragment took hours to complete and the skill and detail shows; it survived to our time to tell its story. Easy transaction. Fast Shipping. Excellent packaging..thank you so much. Seller is honest and easy to communicate with. Seller is Highly recommended!
h***6 (211)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past month
Verified purchase
Amazing print portfolio as described by seller. Well packed and shipped promptly. Excellent seller with great communication,
a***e (399)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past 6 months
Verified purchase
Item exactly as described. Perfectly packed, shipping all good. Thanks so much. Very positive experience. Would definitely buy here again. Great attention to detail in communication. Nice piece of vintage art.
Product ratings and reviews
Most relevant reviews
- Jan 06, 2016
Miss Highsmith
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-OwnedSold by: downtownbooks-milw
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