The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith

Synopsis

patricia Highsmith, One Of The Great Writers Of 20th Century American Fiction, Had A Life As Darkly Compelling As That Of Her Favorite Hero-criminal, Talented Tom Ripley. In This Revolutionary Biography, Joan Schenkar Paints A Riveting Portrait, From Highsmith's Birth In Texas To Hitchcock's Filming Of Her First Novel, strangers On A Train, To Her Long, Strange, Self-exile In Europe. We See Her As A Secret Writer For The Comics, A Brilliant Creator Of Disturbing Fictions, And Erotic Predator With Dozens Of Women (and A Few Good Men) On Her Love List. the Talented Miss Highsmith Is The First Literary Biography With Access To Highsmith's Whole Story: Her Closest Friends, Her Oeuvre, Her Archives. It's A Compulsive Page-turner Unlike Any Other, A Book Worthy Of Highsmith Herself.

The Barnes & Noble Review

Eugene O'neill Believed That The True Artist Is Not At Home In The World. If The More Estranged You Are, The Greater The Artist, Then Patricia Highsmith Would Rank Higher Than Shakespeare. Instead, Highsmith Was Superb But Limited Creator Of Crime Fiction. Her Best Work Is Quirky, Edgy, And Deeply Insightful Into The Secret Places Of Desire -- And Of Hatred, Which Dwells In The Same Precincts. Highsmith's Friends, Lovers, And Acquaintances Remember Her As A Difficult And Often Unpleasant Person Who Lived An Angry, Solitary Life. In Joan Schenkar, Highsmith Has Found A Biographer Who Does Meaningful Justice To Both Her Powerful Work And Her Uncomfortable Existence.