In Ellen Glasgow: A Biography, Susan Goodman vividly brings the famously secretive writer to life, penetrating the myths, half-truths, and lies that have swirled around Glasgow since the publication of her first novel, The Descendent, in 1896.
Drawing on previously unpublished papers and personal interviews, Goodman uncovers the engrossing details of Glasgow's family history, social milieu, personal tragedies, and literary career.
Glasgow emerges from these pages as a woman of great courage, self-discipline, and indomitable will who survived tragedy after tragedy.
Throughout her life, literature remained her driving passion.
In the novels which were her life's work, Glasgow sought a commitment to truth beyond human weakness, to what she called the "living pulse" of experience.
Goodman explores the genesis of each novel, detailing Glasgow's process of writing and offering incisive critical appraisals of her early successes and failures as well as the triumphs of her later years. In Ellen Glasgow: A Biography, Susan Goodman has emulated her subject perfectly, uncovering Glasgow's rich and complicated inner life and reasserting Glasgow's important position in America's literary history. "Given Ellen Glasgow's preoccupation with memory--personal, regional, and national--her life is intriguingly full of acts of erasure ...Goodman has made a meticulous reconstruction of the life from patchy records--interviews, unpublished papers, long-forgotten publications-- and several of its features suggest why Glasgow does not easily fit in with contemporary literary and political priorities ...Susan Goodman is a fine and reliable medium for resurrecting [Glasgow's] voice once more."--Christine Bold, Times Literary Supplement "Ms. Goodman's delineation of Richmond's most famous author is the most complete to date, as well as the most seamless ...The portrait Ms. Goodman creates is that of a resolute and principled woman who was often discouraged but never subdued ...[Ellen Glasgow] recognized the human state as being far from perfect, as well as the imperfections in herself. Thus, to be able to make her way with such pronounced success was a tribute to her own unique aptitude. And to make this aptitude comprehensible to her readers is a tribute to Ms. Goodman's skill as a biographer."--Welford D. Taylor, Richmond Times-Dispatch "In this solidly documented, sympathetic portrayal of a famously secretive woman, Goodman seeks to revive Glasgow's reputation as a writer and an important influence on fellow southerners Robert Penn Warren, Eudora Welty, and William Faulkner."--Publishers Weekly "In her day, Ellen Glasgow was mentioned in the same breath with Edith Wharton and Willa Cather, but in succeeding years ...has slipped into critical disregard.
It is unfortunate that this is the case, and it is hoped that Goodman's thoughtful biography will send contemporary readers to Glasgow's still vital work.
Goodman's sensitive portrait is done with a humanist's understanding of the 'artistic temperament' ...In analyzing Glasgow's fiction, Goodman shows professional acumen as well as her own writerly talents
