Blog Post
What About the Authors?
Have you ever explored the lives of some of your favorite authors?
Since people interest me, and history interests me, I've found the personal and professional lives of many authors almost as interesting as what they write about.
Two men who became household names because of their talent, John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway, were not contented people and never happy for long. Talent does not make for successful personal lives. If you read a good biography of either one, there were many things Not to admire them for, aside from their tremendous gift for writing.
Most of you may know the story of Agatha Christie's unhappy and failed first marriage. Her husband fell in love with another woman; it was devastating for her, and for a number of days she simply ran away. Since the lady was already a well known public figure, her disappearance became national British news. Agatha chose never to explain that part of her life, she kept that very painful chapter very private - as she had every right to do. (She never knew Vanessa Redgrave and Dustin Hoffman would be in a movie about it.) But the lady found happiness with someone else. She was by all accounts a very likeable lady who didn't let fame go to her head.
Anne Perry and a very close girlfriend plotted the murder of the girlfriend's mother when they were 15 years old. They were never convicted or sent to prison and Miss Perry made the most of her second chance. Never has there been a hint of reproach against this celebrated author of mystery fiction in the following decades of her life.
C.S. Lewis was a contented bachelor and scholar living with his brother. Very late one night in a pub, after hours of discussion about Christianity with several friends, he became a convert. And what prompted this amenable bachelor to marry well into his 50's? There's a story for you.
Rex Stout was raised a Quaker. Did you know he invented a school banking system in 1916 that paid him royalties and gave him a guaranteed income until the crash of 1929? Did you know he wrote short stories and a several other things before his first Nero Wolfe Novel in 1934 launched him into mystery writing stardom? Did you know he was a close friend of British humorist P.G. Wodehouse, of Bertie and Wooster fame?
Maybe this is all boring to you. Who cares? You have to be interested in people. Well, books are about people.
The celebrated duo of top-of -the-line inspirational fiction, Bodie and Brock Thoene? In the 1970's Bodie was a writer for John Wayne productions and co-wrote The Fall Guy. Remember that one? They both hold P.H.D.'s and Brock does the historical research while Bodie is the primary writer.
I've highly recommended Stephen Lawhead's Pendragon Circle in this blog. It is superbly written fantasy and Celtic mythical history. But Lawhead was born in Nebraska! And during his twenties ie was in two different rock bands! Some of you may remember Degarmo and Key? He has made his home in Britain for many years now; very appropriate.
Just a few examples....
Authors are as interesting as their books. So are songwriters. They are as interesting as their songs. Thanks for looking at this subject and sharing it with us.😊
ReplyDeleteYou know, I took a bit of time a few years ago to try and find out what happened to a couple of my artists/songwriters. Of course the more fame they achieved, the more information there was. A couple of them were hard to find information on at all.
DeleteAnne Perry was convicted, and rightfully so. It was a brutal murder, and it is only because the girls were so young that authorities didn't seek the death penalty. Actually, I never wanted to know very much about her, because I witnessed a similar attempt by a neighbor when I was 13, but my mother had some idea that she was wrongfully accused and so I looked it up.
ReplyDeleteI like knowing something about my favorite writers, but I also find that I do not like to know too much. A little enhances the pleasure of reading their works. Too much could inhibit, or destroy it. Most of the things you noted, I knew. It's hard to imagine Stout as a Quaker, and I do not recommend reading his early, pre-Nero Wolfe fiction. I never wanted to solve the "Mystery of Agatha Christie" only because I have too many of my own moments that I'd prefer to forget and wish others would, too. On the other hand, I like knowing that Marian Babson held such a wide variety of jobs, and drew on those experiences to create the backgrounds for her mysteries.
I remember thinking, as I was reading "The Death of Amelia Marsh" that you either had to have been a nurse or have been very close to someone who was, and so I was gratified to learn that you were a nurse. On the other hand, learning that Maggie Sefton couldn't knit a single row of garter stitch eventually ruined her knitting mystery series for me as it left me feeling that the whole thing was insincere, merely an attempt to cash in on others' interest. And that could well be unfair, but it kept getting in the way.
You are right Carole, thanks for the correction; the girls were convicted but served no
Deletesentence. After doing such a terrible thing very few get a second chance; that wrong turn now taken is hard to retreat from. The fact that this has been a stigma her entire life attests to that. But God gave the girls a second chance, and Miss Perry has not thrown that away.
There are many other authors I could have mentioned. Taking the time to explore our favorite author's lives can offer many surprises.