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4.39 AVERAGE
4.39 AVERAGE
Fascinating woman, I'm excited to poke at her writing now that I know about her life. Even though this biography opens with the dark tragedy that was the end of Alice Sheldon's life, it still took me off-guard and pained me in the end. Very riveting.
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief
It took me longer than expected to get through this book, and I felt a little bogged down in the middle with too many details about Alli's mother and some of, in my opinion, the less interesting parts of her life, but in the end I really liked this book and probably would have liked it even more if I were a reader of Science Fiction or knew anything of Tiptree's reputation beforehand. This woman led SUCH a fascinating and tragic life. Thanks for recommending it, Eva!
In the late 1960s, a new writer emerged on the science-fiction scene, producing powerful stories that explored the role of sexuality and gender unlike any author before. James Tiptree Jr. tackled often-controversial themes with humanity and compassion. He won several literary awards and garnered recognition both in and out of the sci-fi field. Although Tiptree corresponded by letter with fans and several notable writers – Ursula K. Le Guin, Joanna Russ, Harlan Ellison, and Philip K. Dick, among others – no one had met the elusive author or even spoken with him on the phone. In 1976, James Tiptree Jr. was exposed to be Alice B. Sheldon, a woman in her mid-60s. Tiptree continued writing and publishing until her 1987 suicide. In her legacy, she would remain an enigma.
The first biography on the author, Julia Phillips' James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, successfully explores this extraordinary life. More than a mere genre writer, Alice B. Sheldon had explored Africa by the time she was 6; run a chicken farm; helped, while in the Army, pioneer the skill of analyzing aerial photographs of potential military targets; and worked for the CIA – all before embarking on her writing career under the Tiptree pseudonym. Sheldon's mother, Mary Bailey, wrote popular African travelogues, one of which, Alice in Jungleland, the young Sheldon illustrated.
As Phillips unfolds the many incredible aspects of Sheldon's life, a troubled and unhappy woman emerges. She unhappily grew up in the shadow of her famous and successful mother. Sheldon lived during an era when, regardless of her ambitions and intelligence, a woman was expected to marry, be a dutiful wife, and have children – none of which she aspired to. She suffered from chronic bouts of severe depression.
Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Phillips parts the veil and reveals the woman that was James Tiptree Jr. Far more than providing a biography of an important and influential literary figure, she introduces us to one of the most fascinating and complex personalities of the 20th century.
(Originally appeared in The Austin Chronicle, August 16, 2006.)
Link: [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid%3A395759]
The first biography on the author, Julia Phillips' James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, successfully explores this extraordinary life. More than a mere genre writer, Alice B. Sheldon had explored Africa by the time she was 6; run a chicken farm; helped, while in the Army, pioneer the skill of analyzing aerial photographs of potential military targets; and worked for the CIA – all before embarking on her writing career under the Tiptree pseudonym. Sheldon's mother, Mary Bailey, wrote popular African travelogues, one of which, Alice in Jungleland, the young Sheldon illustrated.
As Phillips unfolds the many incredible aspects of Sheldon's life, a troubled and unhappy woman emerges. She unhappily grew up in the shadow of her famous and successful mother. Sheldon lived during an era when, regardless of her ambitions and intelligence, a woman was expected to marry, be a dutiful wife, and have children – none of which she aspired to. She suffered from chronic bouts of severe depression.
Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Phillips parts the veil and reveals the woman that was James Tiptree Jr. Far more than providing a biography of an important and influential literary figure, she introduces us to one of the most fascinating and complex personalities of the 20th century.
(Originally appeared in The Austin Chronicle, August 16, 2006.)
Link: [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid%3A395759]
I found this book simultaneously easy and difficult to like. There was so much in Sheldon’s life that was unjust or simply sad. There was also a great deal of the sort of sharp, perceptive insight that intelligent outsiders have when they look at the world. But that vision comes at a cost, and Sheldon seems to have paid for hers. I was also struck by how “fresh” her insights seemed; which is also sad, really—sad that the things she was saying in the 70s are so a propos almost 50 years later. I suspect she would be disappointed with the state of our world today. But given how pessimistic her outlook was, I also suspect she wouldn’t be surprised.
Still, there is much here to genuinely like. Sheldon could definitely bring some humor to the table (the reactions she got to her Bug Letter prank were hilarious), and her correspondence with other SF writers opened some wonderful windows into the lives and personalities of those authors. For me, that was one of the strongest features of the book. I grew up reading the works of Ellison, Harrison, and Le Guin… so to see them from another angle—through the correspondence they had with Tiptree—was fascinating and fun. You would not have to be a SF fan to enjoy this book, but it would help. If you were reading SF in the 70s, and especially if you were reading Tiptree, you straight up need to read this book (assuming you haven’t already).
Another target audience for the book would be those interested in seeing 2nd Wave Feminism from the inside. Sheldon was living and grappling with all of the 2nd Wave business as it was happening; and as an intelligent outsider, was very aware of the ways she didn’t fit the narrative for what a woman “should” be. Tiptree’s correspondence with Joanna Russ was particularly intriguing, especially read from “above” and knowing (as Russ didn’t) that Tiptree was actually Sheldon, and female.
I’ll add one small note on format: I read the Kindle edition of the book. If you care at all about notes, don’t do that. The notes are not hyperlinked to the text, making it exceedingly difficult to read the notes as you read the text. At least with a physical book, you could keep a finger (or a bookmark) back in the notes section and easily flip back and forth. Also, there are no pictures or illustrations in the Kindle version. I don’t know if the physical book has any or not, but a quick online search reveals several photographs of Sheldon at various stages of her life, so they exist.
In the end, despite a certain heaviness to the subject matter (and the subject as well, as far as that goes), an interesting illumination of a fascinating life. Highly recommended.
Still, there is much here to genuinely like. Sheldon could definitely bring some humor to the table (the reactions she got to her Bug Letter prank were hilarious), and her correspondence with other SF writers opened some wonderful windows into the lives and personalities of those authors. For me, that was one of the strongest features of the book. I grew up reading the works of Ellison, Harrison, and Le Guin… so to see them from another angle—through the correspondence they had with Tiptree—was fascinating and fun. You would not have to be a SF fan to enjoy this book, but it would help. If you were reading SF in the 70s, and especially if you were reading Tiptree, you straight up need to read this book (assuming you haven’t already).
Another target audience for the book would be those interested in seeing 2nd Wave Feminism from the inside. Sheldon was living and grappling with all of the 2nd Wave business as it was happening; and as an intelligent outsider, was very aware of the ways she didn’t fit the narrative for what a woman “should” be. Tiptree’s correspondence with Joanna Russ was particularly intriguing, especially read from “above” and knowing (as Russ didn’t) that Tiptree was actually Sheldon, and female.
I’ll add one small note on format: I read the Kindle edition of the book. If you care at all about notes, don’t do that. The notes are not hyperlinked to the text, making it exceedingly difficult to read the notes as you read the text. At least with a physical book, you could keep a finger (or a bookmark) back in the notes section and easily flip back and forth. Also, there are no pictures or illustrations in the Kindle version. I don’t know if the physical book has any or not, but a quick online search reveals several photographs of Sheldon at various stages of her life, so they exist.
In the end, despite a certain heaviness to the subject matter (and the subject as well, as far as that goes), an interesting illumination of a fascinating life. Highly recommended.
Fantastic biography of an incredible, fascinating woman. I picked this up because I was interested in her science fiction writing, and doing a paper that talked about her work, but her life aside from science fiction was just as interesting, if not more so. Alice Sheldon's life was truly unbelievable, and this would be a great read whether interested in science fiction or not.
My favorite biography happens to be about one of my favorite authors, which sounds suspicious, but hear me out.
Alice Sheldon, aka the enigmatic, reclusive author James Tiptree, Jr., led one of the most fascinating lives you can possibly imagine. She was an African explorer, a debutante, a CIA operative, a psychologist, and even a chicken farmer. Oh, and one of the great short story writers ever, in any genre, all the while concealing her identity (and her sex) for several years.
I am so happy to report that Julie Phillips exceeded my sky-high expectations for the Sheldon/Tiptree's biography. This is a riveting book in which Phillips carefully unearths and polishes every detail of a truly complex personality (or personalities, in this case). No one could have done better. I can't recommend this book highly enough for biography, literary, or science fiction readers.
Alice Sheldon, aka the enigmatic, reclusive author James Tiptree, Jr., led one of the most fascinating lives you can possibly imagine. She was an African explorer, a debutante, a CIA operative, a psychologist, and even a chicken farmer. Oh, and one of the great short story writers ever, in any genre, all the while concealing her identity (and her sex) for several years.
I am so happy to report that Julie Phillips exceeded my sky-high expectations for the Sheldon/Tiptree's biography. This is a riveting book in which Phillips carefully unearths and polishes every detail of a truly complex personality (or personalities, in this case). No one could have done better. I can't recommend this book highly enough for biography, literary, or science fiction readers.
Very well written, and a fascinating life. Sad to see how a brilliant, vital woman had to twist herself to cope in a sexist society. The next young woman I hear say "Oh, I'm not a feminist" is likely to get spanked.
If you go to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, you can see a huge gorilla beating its breast. It's stuffed of course. It was shot on Mount Karisimbi in the Belgian Congo in November of 1921.
[a:Alice B. Sheldon|5807502|Alice B. Sheldon|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] was on that expedition. She was six years old at the time. In fact she was the first white child many people in the Congo had ever seen.
This was just one of many extraordinary experiences in the life of Alice Sheldon. Besides exploring Africa, she was a debutante, a chicken farmer, a WAC, a CIA agent, a psychologist and of course a writer. (Her mother, [a:Mary Hastings Bradley|133252|Mary Hastings Bradley|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg], was also a writer of some renown. I just discovered that she's still in print, believe it or not.) Sheldon was ferociously intelligent, stunningly beautiful, deeply conflicted and often very depressed.
I have not read many biographies. In fact, I can't remember reading a single one. This may well be the first. I mention that because I don't have much to compare this with, but it seems to me a tremendous book. It's well-written and impeccably researched, but most of all it tells a fascinating story.
The first half is enormously engrossing, but it kicks into a higher level when [a:James Tiptree Jr.|1065820|James Tiptree Jr.|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1212550269p2/1065820.jpg] is "born" in 1967. As ingenious as many of Tiptree's stories are, I'm convinced that Tiptree himself was Sheldon's greatest invention. His persona is remarkably compelling, and he allowed her to write some astonishing stuff. He carried on a voluminous correspondence with lots of contemporary authors, always under the guise of being Tiptree. Everybody wondered who this mysterious guy was.
Eventually, of course, he was exposed as a she, and minds were blown. Alas, we can't have that experience now, but the tale is still fascinating and more than a little disturbing. That befits the Tiptree/Sheldon worldview.
Verdict: Best book I've read in a couple years, and definitely deserving of the many awards it's accumulated.
[a:Alice B. Sheldon|5807502|Alice B. Sheldon|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] was on that expedition. She was six years old at the time. In fact she was the first white child many people in the Congo had ever seen.
This was just one of many extraordinary experiences in the life of Alice Sheldon. Besides exploring Africa, she was a debutante, a chicken farmer, a WAC, a CIA agent, a psychologist and of course a writer. (Her mother, [a:Mary Hastings Bradley|133252|Mary Hastings Bradley|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg], was also a writer of some renown. I just discovered that she's still in print, believe it or not.) Sheldon was ferociously intelligent, stunningly beautiful, deeply conflicted and often very depressed.
I have not read many biographies. In fact, I can't remember reading a single one. This may well be the first. I mention that because I don't have much to compare this with, but it seems to me a tremendous book. It's well-written and impeccably researched, but most of all it tells a fascinating story.
The first half is enormously engrossing, but it kicks into a higher level when [a:James Tiptree Jr.|1065820|James Tiptree Jr.|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1212550269p2/1065820.jpg] is "born" in 1967. As ingenious as many of Tiptree's stories are, I'm convinced that Tiptree himself was Sheldon's greatest invention. His persona is remarkably compelling, and he allowed her to write some astonishing stuff. He carried on a voluminous correspondence with lots of contemporary authors, always under the guise of being Tiptree. Everybody wondered who this mysterious guy was.
Eventually, of course, he was exposed as a she, and minds were blown. Alas, we can't have that experience now, but the tale is still fascinating and more than a little disturbing. That befits the Tiptree/Sheldon worldview.
We come trailing not clouds of glory, but shreds of placenta on which are written pain, suffering, and death.
Verdict: Best book I've read in a couple years, and definitely deserving of the many awards it's accumulated.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced