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booksaremyfavorite's review against another edition
5.0
My mom gave me The Heart is a Lonely Hunter for Christmas one year in my 20s, maybe when I was in college, I have no idea why. I've been mildly obsessed with Carson Mccullers ever since. I taught Ballad of the Sad Cafe in my ESL College Reading class. I had a ratty old edition of The Member of the Wedding on my shelf for years, salvaged from Alachua County's amazing Friends of the Library book sale. It was lovely to read about her by someone who admires her as much as I do, especially with such a refreshing take on a biography. I loved the way Shapland interplayed doubt and certainty, and Carson's life and her own. It was masterful.
Favorite book I've read recently.
Favorite book I've read recently.
tenderdispatches's review against another edition
5.0
This book challenges the very idea of biography–as well as the role of the biographer. With precision and a great deal of heart, Shapland exposes the homophobia of McCullers's past biographers, pointing to a long and troubling history of queer writers being posthumously closeted (even by those who dedicate their careers to writing about them). Wrapped up in this archival/archaeological exploration is Shapland's own coming out narrative, and the two weave around one another with breathtaking grace.
Jenn Shapland is an immensely thoughtful and talented writer, and I can't wait to see what she does next.
Jenn Shapland is an immensely thoughtful and talented writer, and I can't wait to see what she does next.
ludovicaciasullo's review against another edition
4.0
harryhas29's review against another edition
Fascinating enough just for the discussion of using archives to understand a life.
econnuck's review against another edition
5.0
I’m not normally a big fan of biographies, but this was wonderful. Telling her own story alongside Carson’s, Shapland allows her reader to have the same experience as her relationship with Carson through her work. When reading, it is easy to find parallels between one’s own life, Carson’s, and Shapland’s. Her story of discovery, queerness, and disability resonates strongly. Not only is this the story of a woman, it’s a history and snapshot and meditation on a community that, as Shapland discusses extensively, is normally marginalized if not completely written out of the narrative.
half_book_and_co's review against another edition
5.0
It was her retroactive closeting by peers and biographers that I found most disturbing. I took it personally. I began to feel unreal, deranged. If Carson was not a lesbian, if none of these women were lesbians, according to history, if indeed there hardly is a lesbian history, do I exist?
During her work in an archive, Jenn Shapland came across love letters between the US American writer Carson McCullers (The Heart is A Lonely Hunter) and one Annemarie. She was delighted but also confused because these letters and McCullers' very apparent queer desire were not part of the dominant narrative of her life. As @readrunsea (Instagram) wrote pointedly: "Shapland became intimately familiar [with the archival material], even obsessed, as any queer person chasing another queer story will do."
My Autobiography of Carson McCullers is a remarkable piece of writing. As the title already hints at, this is not a conventional autobiography but a very personal one. In poetical vignettes, Shapland not only analyses the ample archival material she uncovers but also reflects on the ways queer history is distorted (especially queer women's history) and weaves in her own story, experiences, and feelings.
When I first read a description of the book I was for many reasons excited, one being that of course when I read "Annemarie" I knew who was alluded to even though a last name was first not mentioned. I can't even remember when exactly and how but roughly ten years ago I had developed a little obsession of my own: Annemarie Schwarzenbach. I must have come across her in some reading, maybe seen a photo (and that woman was striking - as Carson McCullers certainly would agree). I started reading about her. In 2011, a new biography was published in German and I was engulfed. The Swiss writer, traveller, journalist Schwarzenbach is an absolutely fascinating, complicated figure.
And this brings me to the one small issue I had: In this book, it sounds like Carson McCullers queerness had never been acknowledged anywhere and if this relationship between her and Schwarzenbach (and then also other relationships) had never been mentioned. At least for books in German, this is not true. In the aforementioned Schwarzenbach biography, McCullers is mentioned (though admittedly not a lot - but she is introduced with a sentence proclaiming McCullers had fallen immediately in love with Schwarzenbach). But even more important: In 2017, Alexandra Lavizzari had published an entire book on Schwarzenbach and McCullers called "Fast eine Liebe: Carson McCullers und Annemarie Schwarzenbach". This doesn't take away from Shapland's fantastic book but to acknowledge these other works might have led to other very interesting questions of why the McCullers' life is so differently portrayed in most of the US literature on her.
Thank you Tin House for the review copy.
juperez's review against another edition
5.0
'My Autobiography of Carson McCullers' gives us unfettered access into the lives of two writers: Jenn Shapland, grad student and archivist, wading through the murky waters of her queerness; Carson McCullers, the oft-misunderstood phenom behind the beloved 'The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.' And it is by sheer accident (maybe fate) that their stories meet.
Employing a dazzling blend of memoir and biography, Shapland describes a chance encounter with McCullers' letters, re-introduces us to one of the twentieth century's most prolific artists, and recovers a hidden history of repressed queerness, drawing parallels to her own story along the way. In McCullers, Shapland finds a muse and through Shapland, McCullers' story receives the treatment its long been denied.
The pair share an intimate kinship that bridges decades and their joint narrative is at once powerful and utterly necessary. This is a story that should be read over and over and over.
Employing a dazzling blend of memoir and biography, Shapland describes a chance encounter with McCullers' letters, re-introduces us to one of the twentieth century's most prolific artists, and recovers a hidden history of repressed queerness, drawing parallels to her own story along the way. In McCullers, Shapland finds a muse and through Shapland, McCullers' story receives the treatment its long been denied.
The pair share an intimate kinship that bridges decades and their joint narrative is at once powerful and utterly necessary. This is a story that should be read over and over and over.
bethnynaynay's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I am now feverishly searching my shelves for the McCullers books I thought I owned (I should at least have The Heart is a Lonely Hunter with my college books???)
I was so happy to hear about this book and about someone else that held a special place for McCullers in their life. If you've ever been interested in McCullers or touched by her work, you need to read this.
More importantly, somehow, as a 30 year old happily married queer woman, this book found me at just the right time. I needed to remember the process of finding and owning my queerness. And how much literature was instrumental in that process.
This book is definitely worth your time and energy.
I was so happy to hear about this book and about someone else that held a special place for McCullers in their life. If you've ever been interested in McCullers or touched by her work, you need to read this.
More importantly, somehow, as a 30 year old happily married queer woman, this book found me at just the right time. I needed to remember the process of finding and owning my queerness. And how much literature was instrumental in that process.
This book is definitely worth your time and energy.
jenmcmaynes's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this insightful mix of genres: partly a biography of McCullers, partly an exploration of how history and society never allowed her to acknowledge and live with her queerness, partly an exploration of the author’s own identity and what we, as readers, want from our images of public figures. Excellent.