Carson McCullers

“There’s nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book.”

I’ve just discovered writer Carson McCullers (1917-1967). I am reading her book The Member of the Wedding about a lonely girl, jealous of her brother’s wedding, who feels she doesn’t belong anywhere. In 1946 Saturday Review wrote about her book, which also became a Broadway play: “What makes this story so unusual is the fact that most of it takes place through the medium of desultory conversations between three really weird people sitting in an even weirder kitchen. Nothing or almost nothing occurs here, and yet every page is filled with a sense of something having happened, happening, and about to happen. This in itself is a considerable technical feat; and, beyond that, there is magic in it.”

McCullers’ life was filled with writing, personal sadness, health problems, alcoholism and literary acclaim; you can read more about her here. Let me know if you’ve read any novels, short stories or poetry of McCullers whose style is often referred to as Southern Gothic.

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