Literature / Writers Datebook: May 3
Brief biography: Life and Works of writer May Sarton, one of 20th century's best journal-keepers. Memoirist, novelist and poet, famous for Journal of a Solitude and Plant Dreaming Deep.
Belgian-American author May Sarton is one of the best-known memoirists of the 20th century. She is famous for Journal of Solitude and I Knew a Phoenix, among others. Her other best-known work is Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing.
Sarton was a prolific writer, a novelist, poet and memoirist, whose numerous books and collection of poetry were critically acclaimed and widely read. Her work explores the complicated emotions of life, most especially friendship and solitude. Although her best work is strongly personalised with erotic female imagery, she resisted the label of ‘lesbian writer’, preferring to convey the universality of human love. Her family being well-connected, Sarton was a regular visitor to Europe, where she met Virginia Woolf and the Anglo-Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen..
Early Years
Eleanore Marie Sarton (pen name: May Sarton) was born on May 3, 1912, in Wondelgem, Belgium, daughter of George Sarton, a historian of science and a painter, and mother, Eleanor Mabel Elwes. Her family fled to the United States during World War I when May was only four years old. She was an only child.
Gifted Poet
Gifted with poetry, Sarton published several poems by the time she was 17. Most interested in the theatre, she studied drama, and later, founded the Apprentice Theatre. When it closed in 1936, she focused on writing. By this time, she was in her mid-20s. Sarton's first collection of poems, Encounter in April, was published when she was 25, and followed by few more collections.
Educator
Over the course of her career, Sarton taught at several colleges and universities, including Harvard University, Bread Loaf, and Wellesley College.
Memoirist and Novelist
Her memoirs and journals, including Plant Dreaming Deep and Journal of Solitude, combine details of everyday domestic life with reflections that convey Sarton's wisdom and talent in writing. She focused on the lives of women, in particular, her friends, fictional characters, and herself – exploring women's friendships, lesbianism and women's creativity. In later years, she also explored illness and aging, both in her memoirs and novels.
Final Years
Sarton died on July 16,1995. She spent her later years in York, Maine, living and writing by the sea. She valued her time alone, but also treasured her friendships and enjoyed receiving visitors. She survived surgery to remove her breast cancer (although eventually died of it), and a stroke. She wrote poignantly about her recovery.
Selected Works by May Sarton
Encounter in April, poetry, 1937
Inner Landscape, poetry, 1939
The Land of Silence, poetry, 1953
In Time Like Air, poetry, 1957
I Knew a Phoenix, 1959
Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing, novel, 1965
Plant Dreaming Deep, journal, 1968
Journal of a Solitude, 1973
Halfway to Silence, poetry, 1980
The Single Hound, novels, 1938
The Bridge of Years, novels, 1946
Shadow of a Man, novel, 1950
The House by the Sea: a Journal, 1977
Recovering: A Journal, 1980
The Magnificent Spinster, novel, 1985
After the Stroke, journal, 1988
Coming into Eighty, poetry, 1993
Image Credit:
May Sarton. Public Domain
Resources:
Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English by Lorna Sage, CUP (1986)
Illustrated Biographical Dictionary, edited by John Clark, Chancellor Press (1994)
Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring (1994)
May Sarton. en.wikipedia.org
(c) May 3, 2009. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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