Carson McCullers Brief Biography
American Novelist, Famous for The Member of the Wedding
Carson McCullers was one of the greatest novelists of the American South. Her best-known novels were completed by the time she was 34. Her best-known book is The Member of the Wedding. Others include two most popular books, both of which were adapted into movies: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and Reflections in a Golden Eye.
Early Life of Carson Mccullers
Carson McCullers was born Lula Carson Smith on February 19, 1917, in Columbus, Georgia. Like her characters, she didn't fit in too well when she was growing up.
As a child, she had been sick on and off. McCullers spent a lot of time on her own, however, she was encouraged by her mother to play the piano and to write.
At the age of 17 she moved to New York City, where she took a series of odd jobs and studied writing on a part time basis. At 20, she married Reeves McCullers, whom she divorced before remarrying.
McCullers Novels Written with Feelings about Feelings
McCuller's first novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, was published when she was only 23. It tells the story of a deaf-mute man and the troubled people who confide in him. Critics praised the book and were astounded that it had been written by someone so young. It was adapted into a film, 1968, starring Alan Arkin and Sondra Locke and Cicely Tyson. Her second novel, Reflections in a Golden Eye, one of the few novels on homosexuality that time, was also adapted into a film, 1967, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando.
Her most successful novel, The Member of the Wedding, was published five years later after Reflections in a Golden Eye. Like McCuller's first book, it is set in the American South and centers on a group of characters troubled by feelings of loneliness and inner turmoil. In particular, it describes the feelings of a young girl at the wedding of her brother. One critic called it the work of "a genius." She later adapted the novel as a successful play.
Her short novel, The Ballad of the Sad Café, was adapted by playwright Edward Albee of the same title. A collection of stories followed. Few years later McCullers was struck down by a series of illnesses from which she never fully recovered.
Last Words on McCullers
Carson McCullers wrote about feelings, her style direct and simple. Her theme, love, is apparent in her work. Mainly, it's about people who think they're different and don't fit in. As a result, they feel sad, lonely and isolated.
Here's a quote from The Ballad of the Sad Café: "And somehow every lover… feels in his soul that his love is a solitary thing. He comes to know a new, strange loneliness and it is this knowledge which makes him suffer." The quote doesn't end here, as McCullers continues on to offer a resolve on what the lover needs to do.
McCullers' friends include composer Benjamin Britten, W.H. Auden, Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams. She died on September 29, 1967, aged 50.
Major Books by Carson McCullers
- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, 1940
- Reflections in a Golden Eye, 1941
- The Member of the Wedding, 1946
- The Ballad of the Sad Café, 1951
- The Square Root of Wonderful, 1958
- Clock without Hands, 1961
- Sweet as a Pickle and Clean as a Pig, 1964
- The Mortgaged Heart, 1971 (Published after she died)
Sources:
- Oxford Who's Who in the 20th Century. Oxford: OUP, 1999.
- Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997.
- Uglow, Jennifer, Compiler & Editor, revised by Maggy Hendry. The Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography, 3rd Edition. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1999.
Carson McCullers, American South Novelist
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McCullers' Member of the Wedding,1st Cover Edition
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McCullers' The Heart is a Lonely Hunter,Book Cover
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Mccullers' Reflections in a Golden Eye, Book Cover
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