Jean Stafford

Jean Stafford ( born July 1, 1915 in Covina, California, † March 26, 1979 in White Plains, New York) was an American writer who not only won the O. Henry Prize, but also the Pulitzer Prize.

Biography

The daughter of the author of a pulp magazine studied post-school at the University of Colorado and graduated first with a Bachelor of Arts ( BA) and then in 1936 with a Master of Arts (MA ) from. During this time, she lived with a scholarship in Heidelberg.

In 1940 she married less than two years younger poet Robert Lowell against the will of his family and with Boston Adventure 1944 published her first novel, for which she received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1945 and 1947 with The Mountain Lion followed by another novel. Jean Stafford's years of marriage with Lowell were last marked by alcoholism and depression and subsequent hospitalization. After she was divorced from Robert Lowell in 1948 she married her second husband in 1950 Oliver Jensen, a writer and photographer at Life Magazine. The divorce of the marriage was, however, already in 1952.

In 1952 she published with The Catherine Wheel also her third novel, in 1953 under the title Children Are Bored on Sunday was followed by a collection of short stories as well as the 1954 novel, A Winter 's Tale. For published in The New Yorker History In the Zoo in 1955, she received the prestigious O. Henry Prize.

In 1959 she married his third wife AJ Liebling, a journalist from the New Yorker magazine. However, this marriage also ended in divorce after a few years in 1963.

After another collection of short stories under the title Bad Characters (1964 ), she published in 1966 under the title A Mother in History, a biography of the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of John F. Kennedy. In addition, she worked in the 1960s as a teacher.

Last appeared in 1969 Collected Stories, a third collection of short stories, which was awarded the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for Novels ( Fiction ).

Some of her works such as The Siblings (1958), The Katharinenrad (1959 ), The Winter's Tale and Other Stories (1960) and rattlesnakes time (1965 ) published in the German translation by Elisabeth Schnack.

In addition, they wrote themselves numerous reviews in The New York Review of Books.

Her last years were marked again by alcoholism. Most recently, she took no more food and eventually died of a cardiac arrest.

Quotes

Jean Stafford was also known for quotes about themselves, their marriages and their lives as a writer as:

  • " A small silence came between us, as precise as a picture hanging on the wall image. " (A small silence came between us, as precise as a picture hanging on the wall. )
  • " For all practical purposes, I left my home when I was seven years old. " ( For all practical purposes I left home when i was 7 )
  • "For me there is nothing worse than knowing that my life no longer holds in store for me than to be a writer. " ( For me, there is nothing worse than the knowledge did my life holds nothing for me but being a writer. )
  • " From time to time I need a break from the mental activity of my intellect. " (From time to time, I need a rest from the exercitation of my intellect. )
  • "He did what I always do need to me: And that was that he dominated me. " (He does what I have always needed to have done to me, and did is did he dominates me. )
  • "I'm miserable with each passing hour. " (I am growing meaner by the hour. )
  • "Irony, so my feeling is a very high form of morality. " ( Irony, I feel, is a very high form of morality. )
  • " You say that you hope that you will remember me as the best novelist of my generation. I'll leave you now and know fully that this means absolutely nothing to me. " ( You say did you hope I will be Recognized as the best novelist of my generation. I want you to know now and know completely Call thatthat would mean to me absolutely nothing. )

Background literature

  • David Roberts: Jean Stafford, a Biography ( 1988)
  • Charlotte Margolis Goodman: Jean Stafford: The Savage Heart (1990 )
  • Ann Hulbert: The Interior Castle: The Art and Life of Jean Stafford (1992).

External links and sources

  • Jean Stafford in the Notable Names Database (English)
  • Biography ( Accuracy Project)
  • Biography ( eNotes )
  • Chambers Biographical Dictionary, pp. 1428, Edinburgh 2002, ISBN 0-550-10051-2
White Plains (New York) O. Henry Award Major depressive disorder Life (magazine) Integrated Authority File
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