Stevie Smith: A Critical Biography

Faber, London, 1988. First Edition. Hardcover (Original Cloth). Very Good Condition/Very Good. 'Born in Hull. But moved to London at the age of 3 and has lived in the same house ever since', wrote Stevie Smith when asked by an editor for a biographical note. The lack of external events in her life is to many people the best known thing about her. Yet she was far from reclusive, as this new critical biography shows, and was actively involved in the social as well as intellectual life of literary London, with interruptions, from the early thirties. Frances Spalding reveals and explores the intimate relationship between the course of Stevie Smith's life and the evolution of her art, into which she assimilated, not simply the events and emotions of her private life, but the influences on her imagination of her wide and varied reading. The ambivalence of these influences on both form and content has inhibited serious discussion of her work, and it is the strength of this book that in its sensitive unravelling of that ambivalence it enables the oeuvre to be seen as a whole. While showing that the life of the mind can be a valid subject for biography, it also shows that the external events of Stevie Smith's life do in fact provide the subject of an absorbing and entertaining narrative. Jacket photograph by Jane Bown Size: Octavo (standard book size). 331 pages. Dust Jacket has one small closed tear & light wear to top edge. Dust Jacket price-clipped. Top edge slightly dusty. White titles spine. brown cloth. illustrated by b/w. drawings & photo's.. Includes notes, appendices, list of Stevie Smith's works & indexes. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Biography & Autobiography; Britain/UK; Literature & Literary. ISBN: 0571152074. ISBN/EAN: 9780571152070. Inventory No: 2867. . 9780571152070