Really loved this book. Shapland is such a strong, clear writer. The book explores an interesting cross-section of speculative biography of Carson McCullers (mostly while ensconced in her home; creepy) through an autobiographical lens, all exploring the question of what exactly a lesbian is.

vond het zo fijn om tijd door te brengen met dit boek

Lovely! I really enjoyed reading this book. There were some facile moments, but overall I loved the genre-bending; what is the purpose of biography but for the the living to try and make some sort of meaningful sense out of lives already lived?

Yes. Fragmentation as emergent at its best. A powerful way of seeing into another, of re-writing queerness and recognizing an author through archives for who she really was.

A genre-blurring work of academic scholarship & autobiography which takes up as a major focus the long history of trying to downplay and/or obscure McCuller's lesbianism, & what that has meant for queer readers. Insightful byways explored involve such topics as McCuller's idiosyncratic sartorial style, her lifelong physical disabilities, the discovery of previously unpublished love letters, the often deeply conservative nature of institutional archives, artist estates, & academic communities. And while I get why Shapland's insertion of her own life & experiences rankles some, for me it's an eloquent & often moving evocation of how obsessive—& personally invested—some of us get around our research into the historical past, & how it can inadvertently become a proxy for our own processes of self-realization & discovery.

A text that has deeply informed my own thinking on queer historiography & how to relate to the queer past. Bumped up to five stars from a (very strong) four upon a second reading.

"Maybe it’s just that the stories of her relationship with women are partial, hard to compile. To piece them together, you have to read like a queer person, like someone who knows what it is like to be closeted, and who knows how to look for reflections of your own experience in even the most unlikely places"

Very interesting and illuminating writing about both archival work and lesbian erasure. I didn't like everything about this book, but the parts I like I liked a lot. So much more interesting than a traditional biography, even a traditional biography about an unusual figure like Carson McCullers. I think some reviewers have said that the author is intrusive, but I don't agree. I found her deconstructed, sort of archeological approach -- a fragment here, a shard there, ooh here's something big! -- very revealing about both the subject and the process of writing a biography.

One of the most tender and moving books I've ever read.

I haven’t been so entranced and obsessed with a book in a long time. It made me want to write and create and dig through time. I want biography/memoirs of so many artists now. I felt it all. Thank you.